


Our Many Viewpoints

by SyraNyx



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Sibling Incest, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-04-20 00:28:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14249130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyraNyx/pseuds/SyraNyx
Summary: Team RWBY has spent the past 3 years training. Honing their skills. Polishing their reflexes. All to become Huntresses. The most well-known and highly valued profession in modern-day Remnant. While the countries of the world certainly have their disputes over territory and resources, they have a common enemy from the untamed corners of the world, manifested in the wild creatures of Grimm.This is the day they’ve been waiting for. Graduation. Entry to the world where they can make their own way however they choose.But of course, things don’t go that smoothly. Yang disappears the night before the grand event. And when she comes back the next day, will they all be happy with the life they’ve chosen? Will it be full of glamour and wonder? Or just another day in the grind?





	1. Rough Introductions

_ Thumping bass. Shattering glass. Grunts of pain. Gunfire.  _

 

_ Who’s making all that extra noise? I thought we were just letting that new DJ run the show for the night… He didn’t start some stupid fight did he? _

 

Miltia groaned and started to pick herself up off the floor, clutching her head as her thoughts filtered back slower than she’d like, leaving her in a confused state. The din in Junior’s club was deafening, only made worse as she heard its namesake start to fire his obnoxious rockets. Even though she was generally more collected than her white-clad twin even she had to admit that the weapon was far too ostentatious for a mobster. 

 

“Miltia! Get up already. Come on, come on!” 

 

That oh-so-familiar voice and a hand lifting her to a more upright position against the wall she’d rolled up to earlier brought the world back into sharper clarity as the events leading to her brief introduction to unconsciousness came flooding back. 

 

_ That gold-haired bitch… _

 

“Where is she? Are we getting her back?” she asked her twin with fire in her voice, jade eyes perplexed as Melanie kept a firm hold of her upper arm and marched her to the front door. It was then that she caught on to how much damage had been done to the club in the short time she’d been down. Half the decorative glass pillars were in heaps on the floor and the DJ equipment on its’ raised platform was just a step away from total destruction. It was a miracle that it was still pumping out beats.

 

“No way. That’s way more of a drag than it’s worth. She’s trashing Junior so let’s just let him take his lumps,” Melanie returned, her pretty lips turned down in something between annoyance and frustration. 

 

As cool as her words were, as they always were, Miltia heard the wounded pride in her sister’s tone. There wasn’t much time to focus on it as she heard enraged shouting from the other end of the dance floor, both girls turning in time to hear the cacophonous bang that accompanied Junior’s flight over their heads and out the club’s front windows.

 

The twins looked as one towards the woman that had single-handedly trashed the grunts in the place, watching as she strode angrily towards the man she’d launched outside, blind to anyone else’s presence as brilliant crimson eyes blazed in anger. The space was quickly left with only the hurt and the unconscious, leaving the two to give each other a look instead of continuing on to the door. If she was going to leave then there was no real reason for them to do the same.

 

That left them with only the business of how to process what had just happened. The looks in their identical eyes matched as well as their faces, mirroring bruised egos and a sense of bewilderment. Never before had the elite pair been dealt with so quickly by a single person, especially on their own home turf, surrounded by their own people. To say that they were insulted was putting it mildly.  

 

“Who the hell was she anyway? She’s not one of Torchwick’s girls is she?” Miltia wondered aloud, ignoring the grunts and groans around her as people started to stir from their punch-induced sleep. She somewhat doubted that the woman was affiliated with one of the other gangs in the city. Not when she’d come in alone like that. 

 

“No idea. She didn’t have any like, colors for the other groups,” Melanie noted, her haughty tone returning, its’ effect marred by the fact that the arm not holding Miltia up was rubbing her face. She was certain that a bruise would cover a good portion of her cheek by the next morning. Her mouth opened again to say more but was interrupted by a new voice from outside, prompting the two to look out one of the jagged holes where the windows used to be. 

 

“Yang? Is that you?”

 

The voice was young, belonging to a slim, silver-eyed woman that looked barely of age to be in the tobacco aisle, let alone outside a bar deep in gang territory. The twins caught a glimpse of red and black goth clothes, complete with a dramatic red cape before they realized that the woman who’d so summarily handed their asses to them was responding to the name. The particulars of the two’s conversation was too quiet for the sisters to hear from behind the window, but they at least had a name to settle a grudge on, matching jade eyes narrowing in distaste as the blonde brawler climbed atop a sporty motorcycle. 

 

It wasn’t until the younger girl had hopped on behind her that their bitter gazes caught the insignia branded on the bike next to the woman’s personal one that they’d caught on her clothing. 

 

“Beacon. You gotta be shitting me…”

 

“You’re telling me, Miltia… Like, what’s a Huntress doing out here?”

 

Squealing tires and the fading sounds of the motorcycle’s engine did nothing to break the Malachites’ trains of thought while they tracked its journey up the street and around a corner, though the faint police sirens that cut through the night a few minutes later did the trick. They groaned in unison as they realized that some upstanding citizen or one of the club-goers must have called the cops, thinking that some kind of blood war must have been happening in Junior’s. Their musings about the reason for a Beacon Huntress coming to their little corner of the underworld would have to wait until later. For now they at least had a duty to get their group out of sight before the law came to investigate them. 

 

“Ugh. Whatever,” Melanie huffed, letting Miltia step away from her as her sister waved her off that she was fine. Their Auras seemed to have absorbed the brunt of the hits they’d taken and were helping them recover their strength, leaving them to be the responsible ones in the group. Again. “You two! Go pick up Junior’s fat ass and get him in our car. And if I find a single scuff mark on it I’m giving you the boot to make sure the cops find you.”

 

Miltia chuckled dryly as the two poor souls who had been singled out by her sister took one terrified look at her bladed heels and scurried outside to collect their boss, still out cold from the massive hit he’d taken. She took a deep breath to put some power behind her own normally quiet voice, working to round up the rest of the foolish goons.

 

“Just another day in the mob. Whatever.”

 

Two pairs of brilliant emeralds caught each other as the identical phrases left two pairs of lips in tandem. The sisters both smirked, one reserved while the other was more indulgent and cocky, enjoying the moment of togetherness as they turned on their heels to hop in their sleek car, the deep green sports model purring at their arrival and carrying them away as Melanie smoothly sped them out of there.

 

Just another day indeed. And the only detracting factor was the fact that Junior was starting to snore and drool on their leather backseat. 

 

“Ugh.”

 

“Don’t worry, Melanie. I’ll make him clean it later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that aren't as familiar with the series overall, this chapter takes place midway through the Yellow Trailer from the beginning of the first volume.


	2. Sisterly Bonding, New Goals

Beacon Academy. A titan among the Hunting Academies in Vale. Only the most gifted and studious of prospective Hunters and Huntresses entered its halls with a select few leaving to tackle the greater problems of the world. Grimm would fall before them in droves when they were sent to the harsher lands of the world when they weren’t empowering their country’s armies in defense of their home.

 

_ So why then would one lone huntress, just one, choose to come to Junior’s in the dead of night and start a brawl? _

 

“How the hell should I know?!” Junior roared into his Scroll. In his massive hands the device looked like it would break at any moment. It might have even done so under the deep bass of his voice if Melanie hadn’t delivered a knee to his gut that doubled him over. 

 

It gave the giant of a man pause at least, the other participant in his call sighing heavily as the more vocal of the two Malachite women berated him. 

 

“Don’t shout in my place, Junior. Like, so not cool.” She whipped around, her freshly washed hair assaulting him with the scent of shampoo as she stalked away, white satin robe snug around her petite waist and drawing attention to her exposed legs. Pale, athletic, and very distracting legs.

 

Junior held his stomach and grunted, continuing his angered argument on the phone, albeit in more hushed tones as he turned towards a blank wall. As much as he respected the twins’ combat ability as his bodyguards, he sometimes quite hated them. Of all his underlings he’d never had a more trying time with backtalk than with them. He also especially hated instances like this where they drug him to their high-rise condo after a heated incident. Why couldn’t they just… wear clothes that didn’t show off so much?

 

“Like I told you I don’t know how many times, boss. I’ve never seen this broad in my life. The blonde  _ or  _ the one she showed me.” .. “Yeah. The girls said she had a Beacon tag on her bike. That’s all we know…” 

 

Dark eyes looked around again to confirm the information again while he listened to the voice in his ear, landing on Miltia lounging in a red leather recliner, legs crossed while she read a book and sipped tea from an expensive-looking set. While he hardly glanced at her and she didn’t even seem to see anything but her book, she smirked and spoke in a cool tone. “Eyes on the wall, Junior. Staring is uncouth.”

 

Melanie laughed freely from her spot in the corner of the room where the kitchen stood, clearly taking great pleasure in the fact that the gruff man was actually affected enough by them in their robes to go red in the neck. Her sister was sporting an equally revealing number, scarlet in color rather than white but baring as much skin as her own. 

 

“Mhm. Yes, sir. Yes. Goodbye,” Junior grunted at the wall, having quickly torn his eyes away from the twins in favor of taking in their mostly monochromatic apartment with its blood-red accents. It was hardly his style, far too upscale for his tastes, but it was impossible to deny that the abode was magnificent. Geometric designs over post-modern architecture with impeccably made furniture and state-of-the-art appliances, almost mechanical and otherworldly in their placement. Out of his depth was an understatement. Such was the life of women that managed to make more than he did despite being his subordinates. Apparently they modeled when they weren’t moonlighting as his bodyguards, a fact that he couldn’t reconcile with their personalities. At least, not with the foul one anyway.

 

“So what did the stuffy old men have to say about the girl? They like, chew you out for getting your ass handed to you and your club trashed?” Melanie asked with a wide smirk from across the room, willingly meeting the challenge in Junior’s heated gaze with a knife poised over her omelette breakfast. 

 

“You say that like you didn’t get taken out just as fast. Better watch that mouth,” he groused, reaching out for the cup of coffee he’d been offered after being forcefully ejected from the couch he’d been piled onto last night. The same one that he’d been pulled from by his call with his superiors. It was a little known fact, but Junior was little more than one in a series of big names that hosted dealings above his pay grade, simply providing a safe location and muscle to protect it. 

 

The big man visibly flinched and nearly dropped his mug as white satin whispered threateningly from across the room, a knife nearly ending up in one of his eyes if not for Miltia’s calm voice, halting her proud sister’s immediate reaction to the insult. 

 

“Says the one that didn’t keep up on his security and let some wild card into his club that he’s supposed to keep  _ secure. _ ” The emphasis in her words was clearly placed in her soft tone, biting deeper than Melanie’s open jibes, bringing his lip up in a snarl. Yet there was no appropriate retort to be made, silence falling as green eyes returned to book and morning meal. “That’s what I thought.”

 

The silence persisted for several minutes more while the three sipped beverages and let their thoughts wander, rolling over the previous night’s events.

 

Junior was nursing aches in his jaw, frankly surprised that it hadn’t been broken going by the bruising that was rising up beneath his facial hair.

 

Miltia coolly concealed the pain in her chest from her own hits taken, the barest wince flashing across her placid features on a breath taken too deeply.

 

Melanie’s face held what felt to her to be a physical representation of the damage she’d taken to her pride as an elite fighter in the underworld, the ugly bruise that was forming dominating even more of her porcelain features than she had first guessed at. 

 

“So like, what’s your next move,  _ boss _ ?” Melanie drawled lazily, pulling out the word that could only anger the man when expelled from her own lips. She knew perfectly well that the lack of respect she afforded him with offended his idea of the position he held above them. But she found it hard to care when most of the time he acted little more than the part of a thug with a gaggle of bullies at his beck and call. There wasn’t an elegant bone in the man’s body. 

 

Another glare dominated the dark eyes for an instant, his reply measured and pointedly ignoring the jab. 

 

“First off, get the club up and running. Cops are all over so we let the heat die down and wait for the uppers to take care of the paperwork. They’re looking into the broad too. Just a face ain’t much to go on though. She didn’t say anything when she left with that other one?”

 

The sisters only barely glanced at each other at that, hardly a flick of the eyes connecting their gazes for the briefest of moments before Melanie shook her head. “Just saw that Beacon tag on her bike,” she said dismissively, lip curling as the blonde’s wide smirk passed through her mind again. “They really think she’ll be back? Like, you didn’t know the woman she was looking for, right?”

 

“Never seen her once. Looked tough but that was the only thing I could tell about her,” Junior confirmed, daring to walk into Melanie’s space in the kitchen since their conversation was calmer now. He needed more coffee to kickstart his brain on the logistics of getting his people moved around to his other safehouses. 

 

“Oh yes. I would imagine it’s rather difficult to keep your thoughts straight when a pretty face makes a pass at you and acquaints herself with the family jewels.”

 

Melanie snorted in a distinctly un-ladylike fashion, caught off guard by Miltia’s quiet venom. It was nothing like the terrible choking as Junior nearly inhaled his hot coffee down the wrong pipe, coughing and pounding his chest as he left a smattering of brown across the pristine countertop. 

 

“Well, whatever. Clean that up before you go. We have other things to do besides look after your man-children,” Miltia continued smoothly, rising gracefully from her chair. She left her tea cup on her glass table and walked towards the bedroom in the back of their home, the quiet dismissal clear in her voice. Junior would have had a mind to make another comment about respecting one’s superiors but he was derailed as the red bathrobe was casually left on a hook in the hall, leaving him with the fine sight of a pale, toned rear burned into his mind. 

 

“Was just about to go. I’ll call if I get another deal going,” he muttered, wiping the mess off the counter that he’d made as quickly as he could and ignoring Melanie’s knowing smirk at his discomfort. 

 

“Y’know, you’re like, really prudish for a gangster. You sure you’re in the right business, Mr. Gentleman?” Melanie teased as he marched for their front door, openly mocking his silence with her laughter before the door slammed shut, leaving her alone in the kitchen. 

 

The smile slowly slid from her face once her home was her’s and her sister’s again, standing and leaving her omelette partly un-eaten in favor of following Miltia to the bedroom. Her own silk robe was left hanging by its red counterpart, allowing her the comfort of the cool air to caress her skin.

 

_ This sucks. I can’t go to the shoot tomorrow looking like this. What the hell was that anyway? Useless geezers can’t even find the name of some girl. How? That was way too flashy for her not to be known. We need something more to go on if we’re gonna- _

 

Melanie’s internal rant was interrupted as she heard the shower kick on, prompting a frown as she and Miltia had already cleaned up earlier this morning. What was her sister doing? 

 

“Miltia? What gives? You okay?” she called, opening the door without knocking but drawing in a breath with a hiss at the sight before her. Nakedness between the siblings was nothing to startle over. The two of them had seen each other time and time again throughout their life, working through modesty and jealousy together as their bodies grew in subtly different ways to the mirror images they’d known as children. She held more athleticism in her muscles, staying slim regardless of diet while Miltia struggled more to keep the excess out of her waist and chest. Melanie wouldn’t have minded if she struggled a little more with the latter of the two… However, the issue here wasn’t Miltia’s breasts but the encroaching bruise beneath them. 

 

“What the hell?! How come you didn’t tell me your Aura cracked that bad? Are you oka-” 

 

Melanie’s shrill voice was silenced as Miltia turned to glare with the glittering green in her eyes that she knew so well. She had been halfway through stepping into the shower but stopped to answer her twin’s concerns with a belligerent tone that did little to conceal the difficulty in keeping her normally strong front intact.

 

“I’m fine, Mel. I’m just going to soak to- agh!” 

 

“The fuck you are. You’re getting painkillers and getting in bed. No lunch with the agent and no dinner with the sponsors until you’re better,” Melanie stated imperiously when Miltia put a hand to her chest at a fresh spasm of pain. For the second time since last night she reached out to grasp her sister’s arm, pulling her from the shower and silencing the tap. With quiet efficiency she marched her over to the bed, laying the woman down with a gentle care that belied her usual arrogant nature. Then she was off to collect meds and water while she dialed in to cancel all their plans for the day, promises be damned. 

 

Miltia watched her naked sister quietly from the bed and obediently took the pills she was handed, poorly concealing another wince at the pain the motion caused. It wasn’t as if she was hurt enough to prompt a hospital visit, but she certainly needed the rest. Time for her Aura to aid her healing would get her in working order again before long, but not if she were tiring herself out with the hustle and bustle of the city. 

 

“You’re lucky Junior is dumb enough to fall for your tough guy act,” Melanie huffed, hands on her hips once she was done with her Scroll, glaring down at her unimpressed sister who shrugged and smirked a little. 

 

“He’s not the only one who fell for it.” 

 

“...I hate you sometimes.”

 

“Good. Can’t have people getting the wrong idea about us.” 

 

Melanie gave her sister an odd look, leaving Miltia briefly unsettled and wondering what exactly she was thinking behind those pretty eyes that were so like her own, wondering if she’d taken the joke a little too far. The worry was dispelled, however, at the gentle laugh that accompanied Melanie diving into the covers. She smiled and closed her eyes, content to feel her sister’s bare chest against her back. For all of her rough edges, when it came to holding Miltia she was the gentlest soul imaginable, soft hands snaking around her waist and leaving her with a sense of complacency and comfort. It was an irreplaceable feeling, unable to be given by anyone but the woman who had been through every problem she had. Not to say that they hadn’t tried dating others but the spark was simply absent, as if there was no spark to be had in their lives. 

 

“Just go back to sleep. We’ll get you better and then we’ll figure out what we’re doing,” Melanie said softly, dropping her voice to speak directly in the other woman’s ear and closing her own eyes as if to lead by example even though they weren’t facing each other. 

 

_ Like what we’re doing about that blonde bi- _

 

“You mean like what we’re doing about the Huntress, right? I doubt you care much about the model agency right now.” 

 

Melanie was startled into opening her eyes, seeing one amused green gemstone turned back her way. They may not have ever had that supposed telepathic link that people thought twins ought to have but she could swear that Miltia could read her mind at times. 

 

“Exactly. Like, I’m not letting her walk all over us, even if she is from Beacon,” she grinned, at least glad that they were on the same wavelength. 

 

Looking forward to a grudge match with a Huntress could hardly be considered normal but the prospect of a new challenge in their routine lives was something that both of the 25-year-old women looked forward to. For all of the thrill that working alongside a pack of crime lords could bring, there was something that kept them from feeling fulfilled in their everyday lives. Some itch that couldn’t be scratched. They had tried so many avenues already. Modeling had lost the glamour and appeal it once had but certainly paid the bills. Sky diving, high speed racing, and any other dangerous sport to be considered had been deemed too tame or too risky to their mortality. Fighting on the streets came close but… What challenge is there in curb stomping dumb kid upon dumb kid that all seemed to spout the same tough-guy statements? A Huntress though… There was a real challenge, if a short-lived one once a fight had been had. One that may bring a spark. 

 

“Fine. I guess I can sleep for that,” Miltia quipped, feigning exasperation while she snuggled closer, pressing back into the heat behind her and feeling her bones melt with the calm it brought. Fighting wasn’t something they could very well do without having a proper opponent though so sleep was fairly easy to relax into. A twinge from her chest did nothing good to remind her of how the first round had gone and she could only be glad that her sister and best/only friend was here to help her. Getting hurt for a mistake always made her feel off-balance by wreaking havoc with their dynamic, but things always turned out this way with the more abrasive sibling becoming the unexpected caregiver. 

 

And she wouldn’t give it up for the world.

 

* * *

  
  


“So, let me get this straight one more time.”

 

“Ha! Straight. That’s a good one, Blake.”

 

“Shut up, Yang. You’re really telling me that you’re dead on your feet because you went bar hopping until 3am last night? Without telling anyone where you were going?”

 

The black bow nestled in Blake’s flowing locks twitched almost imperceptibly and her cheeks flushed under Yang’s teasing, a fact that didn’t escape the notice of the other three in the room. Yang herself appeared to be the only one in the room who was amused by the reaction though.

 

One would assume that she would be the least likely to be smiling as she looked exhausted from lack of sleep and was currently being grilled by her roommates. That was Yang to a fault though. Ruby and Weiss, sitting side by side on the lower bunk across from the blonde, could only sigh while Blake continued to berate their blonde teammate. 

 

“I didn’t go bar hopping per se, but I  _ was  _ at a bar.”

 

“A bar that you happened to almost knock down after knocking out everyone inside. Which you still haven’t explained,” Ruby chimed in with false cheer, her words failing to detract from Yang’s good mood, even if she did look like she desperately needed a nap as much as her sister did. She could only find amusement in that some of Weiss and Blake’s sarcasm had rubbed off on the younger girl over the past three years.

 

“Not really helping, sis. But yeah, I kinda did. You should’ve seen how cool it-”

 

“No. No I really don’t care how ‘cool’ it was. We were all worried about you because you just up and vanished  _ the night before graduation _ and we had  _ no idea  _ where you went! You weren’t even answering your Scroll and now you and Ruby are dead on your feet after you dragged her all the way back over from the far end of the city! I might have expected behavior like this from Blake three years ago when she was still half on the run from the White Fang but not from you.”

 

Weiss’ words wiped the smile off Yang’s as she got to the heart of the matter of why this was really such a big deal, Blake’s frustrated blush disappearing as the blonde stopped teasing her and gave her a moment to regain her calm. Weiss’ comments on her own past were water under the bridge by this point and not exactly inaccurate. 

 

“I mean, missing graduation would be one thing, but I just want to be sure you’re even okay. We all do,” Blake muttered to the floor, jumping as Yang took hold of one of her hands. 

 

She at least had the good sense to look properly ashamed of herself now, trying to assuage her teammates’ worries rather than antagonize them further. It was certainly better than continuing to skate around the real reason she’d left in the first place, though she was definitely not quite ready to fully own up to it just yet.

 

“Yeah… Sorry about that. I just had a big lead on something I’ve been trying to find for a long time… It was super bad timing, I know, but I had to check it out. But hey! I’m safe. I’m not hurt. I just need some coffee and I’ll be  _ fired up  _ and ready to go.”

 

The blonde grinned again as she at least pulled a chuckle from her little sister, the tension in the group loosening its hold as worries were brushed aside to be re-examined later. 

 

“Coffee is easy to come by, though don’t think that this will be the end of this conversation after today,” Weiss warned sternly, the effect ruined somewhat by a fond look aimed at the brawler across the room. It was subtle but noticeable in not being outright annoyance. “I won’t push you for answers with how busy we’re going to be packing up, but I fully expect you to fess up at some point.”

 

“Of course, Your Majesty. Anything for our Ice Queen.” Yang sprung up into a low bow, shocking Blake into doing the same with a smirk. It was so easy to surprise the Faunus into going with the flow now that she wasn’t terrified of her own shadow. 

 

“You’re ridiculous, Yang,” Blake scoffed, tugging her hand away to straighten and walk across the room. Her pink cheeks and little smile were the only real indicators that she wasn’t truly mad about the silly display and she made her way to the coffee pot that was going to soon be packed away, intent on changing the subject before she could be teased further. 

 

Today was hardly the day for wasting time on their usual banter and arguments after all. Three long years of training, studying, and polishing their skills as Huntresses were finally set to pay off as they prepared to stand in on the stuffy but exciting graduation stage of Beacon. It was going to be an occasion fraught with ceremony and time spent listening to long-winded speech but well worth it. They would receive their official Huntress documentation and be free to pursue their own lives away from the rigorous schedules the Academy laid down for them. 

 

The young women all began to busy themselves with preparations, showers and morning meals the first starting point outside of the mental preparation they had to do. Their formal clothes for the day were laid out the night before with the rest packed into several large suitcases in one corner of the spacious dorm room, only noticeable as being strange as Weiss had distinctly less clothes than she’d arrived with and therefore less luggage to handle. It felt strange to all four of them that they would soon be leaving and moving into an apartment in the center of Vale City instead, their new base of operations where they would search for day jobs and participate in occasional Huntress duties from. 

 

Ruby dejectedly took down her silly hanging bunk with her sister’s help, damp hair tickling her face while she recalled the many pillow fights that had been started from the floating fortress. It wasn’t as if there wouldn’t be more since the team wasn’t disbanding any time soon but she could feel the disappointed nostalgia creeping in already for the simple days they were going to leave behind. Her silence hardly fit her usual bubbly demeanor but who could blame her? As one of the youngest Beacon graduates in its history she had to grapple with this new beast in her mind. Was she really ready to be an adult in the adult world when she was still just 16?

 

Weiss’ hands busied themselves constantly over the course of the next few hours. She was straightening curtains, making beds, wiping dust from shelves and desks, inspecting corners for stray bits of grime or fuzz, and just generally ensuring that they left this room in perfect condition. It occurred to her several times how strange this was compared to when she’d first joined RWBY’s misfit band, mortified now as she realized how spoiled and pretentious she had acted. Never could she have imagined that she would be the one tidying up after everyone else when she’d previously been loathe to so much as return her books to their own shelf when finished with them. She also couldn’t have imagined that her father would disown her for considering a Faunus a beloved friend and teammate, but that was more of a welcome change she’d come to find. It was only appropriate now, however, as she looked ahead and imagined what she could do to organize the new apartment she’d helped to procure for them in the city, feeling incredibly liberated to finally be making her own way in the world with her own money that she’d earned through investments rather than through Jacques Schnee’s cutthroat business dealings. There was a nervous energy in her hands all the same though. 

 

Blake was struggling with the daunting idea that they were soon going to be in charge of their own schedules, forced into responsibilities outside of the ones placed upon them by Beacon’s metric. Her hands moved to tenderly place the last of her well-loved books into boxes, occasionally drifting up to shift her bow over her Faunus ears by slight degrees. A habit that was hardly necessary after informing more and more of her friends of her heritage over the years yet still appeared on occasion  It was hard to imagine the four of them anywhere but in this room when they prepared to face Grimm in the countryside or before they set out for a shopping excursion downtown. Anxiety curdled her gut at the prospect of so much change. If there was one among them that feared it most it was her, the one who had only experienced the negatives that change brought as a young girl.

 

Yang, while waiting patiently for Blake to finish masking the bags under her eyes with makeup, merely watched her friends and sister work with a raised eyebrow. Exhausted as she felt from the night’s escapades she was eager to tackle the day, cracking her knuckles like she was preparing for another fight. In a flurry of movement that pulled a protest from Blake she was off the bed that would soon no longer be hers’, swiping her graduation gown from the wall and cramming it on over her dress that she’d been forced into. 

 

“Come on, ladies! I’d say it’s about time we  _ graduate  _ from this old room and get ready to enter stage right in the city! Group hug!”

 

With a laugh at the groans she received from Blake and Weiss, Yang easily caught her sister’s excited tackle with one arm while tucking the other two into her other side. There was a knowing smirk at the tension she created by putting the monochrome pair into close quarters together but she let their faint flushes speak for themselves and forged ahead.

 

“We’ve got stuff to take downstairs so no more moping, kay? There’s gonna be plenty of time for that once Weiss-y gets to sit through the valedictorian speech that she’s not giving,” the blonde teased, earning a punch to her shoulder that was swiftly followed by the white-haired woman pulling away and fidgeting with the creases in Yang’s gown with a frown. Clearly her annoyance with the comment was short-lived since she was making up for the hit by fussing and working out her nervous energy. 

 

“I’ll have you know that my marks compared quite nicely to Pyrrha’s,” she huffed, ignoring Ruby’s giggles. “If anything, I am quite willing to admit defeat as she is a shining example of what we all ought to aim for.”

 

“Ooooh, sounds like someone has a bit of a crush.” 

 

“Not on her! Not anymore at least...”

 

“So you did have a crush on her and you do have a crush on someone now!”

 

“Wh- I- Ugh. You’re impossible, Yang.”

 

Ruby was in full giggle mode while she watched Weiss turn as red as Pyrrha’s infamous hair, seeing even Blake crack a small smile as the Faunus walked away to pick the other gowns off of the wall. She did wonder who it was that gave Weiss a reaction like that one whenever Yang mercilessly teased her like this but she didn’t have long to consider the possibilities as Blake dropped a gown in her arms with an expectant look. 

 

“So ignore her. Let’s get dressed and get out of here. Yang is right about us having things to get done at least,” she stated in her quiet voice, handing the beet red girl her own gown and leaving the sisters to their cackling. Warm amber and cool blue gazes met long enough for Weiss to take a deep breath and nod, better able to ignore the harassment and focus.

 

“Alright, fine. Let’s get going then,” she agreed, smiling softly and feeling the heat in her face abate enough to leave her with a residual pink. The Faunus’ calm ways rarely failed to keep her level-headed when Yang got to be too much to handle. Which was often so Weiss was just as often grateful for the soothing voice from the shadows.

 

“To graduation!” Ruby and Yang crowed together, the both of them running to start picking up suitcases and dash out the door, shouting about a race to the elevator while Weiss and Blake rolled their eyes. They chose to go after their teammates at a much more relaxed pace, taking their time to stroll and enjoy the sights of the Beacon campus in relative peace one more time.

 

* * *

 

 

Beacon’s graduation ceremonies each year were quite the spectacle to behold. Not only was it a celebration of new blood entered into the forces of the country to help defend against the threat of the Grimm, it was also a social occasion to recognize the many other Hunters and Huntresses that actively served. Those that weren’t actively hunting came to observe, learning the character of those that they would come to work with in the coming years. Not everyone chose to stay with the groups of four they trained with, some by choice and some by necessity, so partnerships could easily come and go. Sometimes numerous individuals could even be pulled to unexpectedly work together for a single job, so familiarity at a minimum was important for their livelihood.

 

In addition to those visiting their alma mater the civilian population had an open invitation to attend, from which the professors of Beacon would sometimes recruit. For all of Vale’s relative peace there was still turnover and a constant need to train continuing generations on the methods of protecting humanity against its enemies. 

 

The ceremony itself was even televised, as if it were a red-carpet reveal of sorts for new celebrities to enter the stage.

 

And so, of course, it was unsurprising that Melanie would think to flip the television in the bedroom on with a lazy flick of her Scroll while Miltia slept. It was something they would do every year normally since so many Hunters and Huntresses really were celebrities in their own right, basking in the limelight their title brought or even earning it through normal means. They had modeled with a fair number of them in the past and seen plenty come and go on the actual red carpet.

 

The sound was barely there, enough that she could understand the proceedings and still let her sister rest. It wasn’t like Miltia slept lightly or anything, but she was trying to be courteous and let her rest rather than wake her just to watch people make the same pledges they heard every year. Not to downplay the sacrifices that some of those people made but it certainly wasn’t something for them as civilians and the pomp and ceremony got old after so many times of hearing it.

 

The younger, wakeful sister had the opportunity to return to the kitchen and clean up her mess from earlier in the morning out of sheer boredom at least, trekking back with a glass of whiskey that she sipped without so much as a wince. She tilted her head in confusion on her way down the hall, wondering if Miltia had rolled over and turned up the volume on the program by accident. 

 

“Melanie. You’re not going to believe this.”

 

She jumped as she realized that that was exactly what must have happened, walking in to see Miltia upright with her gaze glued to the screen in a glare.

 

“I present to you, Team RWBY, graduating with Honors and transferring to central Vale as Class I Huntresses. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. And-”

 

“Yang Xiao Long.”

 

The twins’ voices echoed one another as they read the name displayed on the screen together with the Headmaster of Beacon, identical expressions of excitement glittering in their eyes.

 

“How lucky for us…”

 

“Like, you’re telling me, Miltia. Should we tell Junior and see if he’ll sniff something up for us?”

 

“No… Let’s let her get settled in. We know she’s not going anywhere far at least.”

 

There was a score to be settled in the coming weeks. With bruises and wounded egos. 


	3. Boredom... and Excitement?

The City of Vale, just like the country it drew its name from, was one of the safest places in the world if you listened to the talk of the news. The geography and the placement of its cities allowed for easy defense of its people from the creatures of Grimm. Not to mention the fact that there was always a Hunter or Huntress available to track down a particular creature when they proved to be too unruly for conventional methods.

 

Yet the city itself, for all of its lack of Grimm trouble, still boasted its own problems with crime and its less than reputable denizens. The packed streets of city center hosted sneaky businessmen who did all they could for the next stack of lien, cold wind from the northern end carried rumors of illicit smuggling operations out over the waters leading to Mantle and Mistral, and whispers of the mobs collecting something in safehouses within the mountains to the south could be heard if you put your ear to the ground and listened. 

 

Though, with all the worries that some had about the multifaceted underworld, peace reigned for the most part. Occasional scuffles or a shootout in the seedier parts of town brought the police out but the common folk considered themselves safe and secure if asked. 

 

Unfortunately, that safeness and security came at a cost to those who lived their life one thrill at a time. 

 

_ This place is so  _ **_boring._ **

 

“Xiao Long! Get out here! Car to lift!”

 

Yang groaned inwardly despite her immediate grunt of assent, pausing her work on a less pressing oil change to wipe her hands clean on a filthy rag and step into the front, open-air garage. She squinted at the harsh sunlight, wondering why the hell Earl of Earl Motors had chosen to build the place facing the setting sun. It made for miserable, sweltering afternoons in the summer humidity. Even  blasting the AC just inside the inner garages couldn’t keep up with all of the traffic in and out, making it just hot enough to be unbearable. 

 

She had only taken this job because she’d gotten so bored sitting around the apartment waiting for a hunting job to come in. And man, was she regretting it. 

 

_ I mean, how boring can this city get? Nothing ever happens. Coco told me that they get pulled out to help the cops with a raid at least once a month on the south end of town. Why’s this side gotta be so different? _

 

Muscles rippled with grunts of exertion as the blonde helped heft a rolled car off the ground enough to get it up in the air and easier to work on. The tires on the hunk of metal were essentially gone, crushed up into the body by who knew what. It was hard to care, to be honest. You would think there would be a better tool for this but Earl seemed to prize old-fashioned manual labor above all else. It left Yang’s mind free to wander at least, her constant aggravation with the day-to-day apparent in the crease of her brow. 

 

_ All I ask is for one job. Just one! I haven’t even gotten any new leads so it’s not like I have anything but this shit to do. Seriously even Ruby can’t- _

 

“-ong! Xiao Long!”

 

Yang’s musings were interrupted by fingers snapping in her face, lilac eyes blinking rapidly as she focused on the face the fat appendages belonged to. 

 

“You can put the car down now, Xiao Long. Quit showin’ off,” Earl groused, bald spot shining in her eyes as she realized that everyone else had let go of the car and were waiting for her to ease it down. That explained why her shoulders were so tight. 

 

“Oh. Whoops.”

 

With the gentlest move that she could manage the mangled vehicle was brought down to rest on the platform that had been placed under its frame, dropping the last inch with a solid thud. 

 

“Now get back in the garage,” Earl huffed once Yang’s hands were free, not even attempting to stop the incredulous rise of his brow at the young woman. There wasn’t a day in the past couple of weeks that he wondered what he’d gotten himself into by hiring a Huntress part time...

 

Ignoring the stares from the other boys in the shop the blonde nodded and turned on her heel, hardly noting the wide berth she was given on her way by. 

 

It was rare enough to be a woman working as a mechanic but Yang had vast experience in the field after years of tinkering with her beloved Bumblebee, endless hours spent learning everything she could in her dad’s garage back in Patch. Rarer still was the fact that she was a certified Huntress looking for a day job. Hardly uncommon in and of itself since they were still people but it had earned her a long, hard stare when it came up in the interview. It paid bills when things were slow, she had reasoned, and kept her mind occupied now that she could only wait for work. 

 

Mostly occupied. 

 

In other countries, where the Grimm were more active or closer to the edges of civilization, it was simple to petition yourself for any number of jobs; Hunting work simply never ceased in places that lacked the natural barriers that Vale possessed. Weiss and Blake, however, had insisted that the group stay in Vale. And it was hard to fault them for the logic they employed. 

 

When Weiss had been officially disowned upon choosing to continue her dream to be a Huntress, it had burned her of any desire to see Atlas ever again in the interest of avoiding her father’s ire. Even most of Mistral felt too close for comfort and it wasn’t as if any of the others felt a burning desire to explore the world. Over the course of the past two years she had come to consider Vale her home in the truest sense of the word, barring whatever place her sister Winter happened to call home at the time. As long as the eldest Schnee continued to serve under General Ironwood a reunion wasn’t bound to happen anytime soon unless she came to see her younger sister. Not an impossible event but an unlikely one with the busy life an Atlesian Specialist led.

 

And Blake, traveled as she was from her brief stint with the White Fang, certainly had no desire to risk losing the safety and security of familiar ground. She did miss her parents back in Menagerie but had taken steps during this most recent year to reach out to them after all her time away. Most surprisingly, she’d done so at Weiss’ behest, hearing the girl’s pleas of not estranging herself from family when she had the chance to still reconcile. The monochrome pair seemed to have gotten a lot closer ever since that had happened, finding more common ground in the last few months of attending Beacon than any of the four would have imagined. 

 

_ I wonder if Rubes wants takeout again… _

 

Yang sighed at how boring even her thoughts were becoming. A month out into the world on their own and the most she had to look forward to was picking up pizza or something on her way home. She returned to her oil change project with a little more annoyed vigor than was really necessary at the thought, spattering her clothes and the ground in her haste before she managed to get her drip pan under the engine. 

 

That little mistake coupled with her downtrodden thoughts made for a long afternoon in the heat. Once, she would have relished the hard work, becoming so engrossed in the routine of deconstructing and putting back together; Taiyang had taught her how to find a sort of zen calm through the use of her hands. However, it was so difficult to forget how disappointed she was after years of idealized daydreams of the adult world… 

 

Long hours later, her customers were on their way out with minor problems solved and vehicles purring. Cleaning her hands was the first step with all the hassle out of the way, trudging feet carrying her lazily to the big sink on the wall with its industrial grade soap to cut through the grease on her skin.

 

Two taps on her shoulder brought her face to face with Earl’s flushed countenance again in the middle of cleaning, one blonde eyebrow raising as she carefully pulled her face back. He was awfully bad about bringing his smelly self way far into her personal bubble…

 

“Clock out, Xiao Long, we’re wrappin’ up in an hour,” he huffed shortly, waddling away as soon as he got a nod of assent from the tall woman and completely missing the eye roll his words brought. What did he think she was washing up for?

 

Bumblebee roared to life a couple of minutes later to zip into the roads and spirit Yang in the direction of cool salvation. A carton of ice cream in the freezer at home was luring her back with a siren song...

* * *

“Honey! I’m hooooome!”

 

Weiss had to smile at Yang’s energetic entrance when she banged her way through the front door, eyes sliding over to the clock on her laptop and realizing just how late it had gotten. The setting sun in her window should have made that fairly obvious but she’d been so engrossed that time had lost meaning for a while. Delicate hands raised over her head in a luxurious stretch, relieving some of the cramping and tension that came with perusing the stock markets for so many hours. After being removed from the privilege that came with being the golden child of the SDC she’d had to move quickly, using what funds she had managed to squirrel away for an emergency to start investing. Without a steady cash flow she would need to make her own and having a solid portfolio was the most efficient way to do just that while she’d still been attending Beacon. 

 

It had certainly paid off, allowing them to put in a down payment on this premium apartment: three bedrooms with Yang insisting that she could use a pull-out bed in the front room, as well as a sizable kitchenette and miniature dining area attached. Not that the kitchen was often used, if the scent of pizza from somewhere was anything to go by.

 

“Yang, really? You couldn’t have picked anything more healthy for a meal?” she asked incredulously, walking out and seeing the blonde gingerly set several boxes on the table. Her traitorous stomach of course had to go and ruin the effect of her voice, grumbling like an enraged Beowulf and making her blush.

 

“Oh, come on, princess. You know you love it,” Yang teased, making a beeline for the bathroom so she could shed her filthy tank top and jeans before eating. The casual clothes had seen more rough treatment in the past month than in the past 4 years since she’d chosen them as her most disposable set upon netting the job at Earl’s. Weiss had to look away though as clothes started to fly before the buxom brawler had even made it as far as the other room. “We gotta find some way to put some meat on them bones! How else are you gonna get the looks from Blake? I mean, have you seen the magazines she reads sometimes?”

 

“Wh- You-!” Weiss spluttered, red-faced at both the implications and Yang’s casual nudity. The fact that the Faunus in question had enrolled herself in an afternoon photography class to pass the time was either a blessing or a curse, entirely determined by the severity of this teasing she was forced to endure on a given day. 

 

“I mean, I appreciate the Bellabooty as much as the next girl, but you take it to another level, Weissy. When you gonna tell her you’re into her anyway?” Yang continued, unperturbed by the impending screech of embarrassed rage that was clearly building in the singer’s throat. The blonde’s teasing only seemed to have gotten worse in the past couple weeks, a feat the former heiress had not thought possible after three years to grow accustomed to it. It had been a near constant stream as soon as Blake was out of the house, going unchecked even if Ruby was still around. Which she usually wasn’t as she wandered the city to cure her own boredom. Her caped partner had been supremely unhelpful in reigning her sister in recently. 

 

“I- I don’t know what it is you think you’re implying but you’re wrong regardless, Yang,” Weiss strongly denied, even more off-put by the woman as she continued to walk around topless on the prowl for a new t-shirt, cargo pants foregone in favor of bright pink panties. Yang’s lack of modesty was something she honestly could never get used to, despite repeated exposure over time. “Blake and I are only teammates, just as you and I are unfortunately.”

 

“Ah! You wound me, oh sweet maiden!” Yang gasped in mock horror, a hand on her chest as she staggered theatrically into the bathroom’s door frame. An unbidden chuckle came to Weiss’ lips, deep blue eyes rolling in exasperation despite the flush still present in her cheeks. “You’re a really bad liar though, princess. You should work on that,” came the continuation, recalling annoyance while the blonde smirked again and danced her way over to the pizza on the table. “I mean, I can’t believe Blakey hasn’t seen ‘ _ the burning passion in your azure eyes, cool diamonds piercing her insecurities and finding the beauty beyond _ ’.”

 

Weiss and Yang both knew exactly where the quote came from and the ivory-haired woman was astounded at how well it silenced her in mere seconds, mortification painted scarlet across her cheeks. Regardless of the universal denials, it seemed every one of them had delved into Blake’s “secret” collection of guilty pleasures. The most recent installment of  _ Ninjas of Love  _ had seen the introduction of a new antagonist even, snow-white hair and piercing blue eyes making Weiss into an easy target for comparison. 

 

_ How in the name of Remnant did she even manage to memorize that so well?! And why do I have to remember it so clearly?! _

 

The two of them seemed to play this dance almost every day while Blake was away, Yang convinced that she could spur Weiss into some kind of action with enough pestering and Weiss vehemently denying her attempts every time. The blonde was certain of her hunch though, especially after watching the black and white pair grow ever closer. They played chess together to pass the hours, conversing calmly minus the constant disagreements that had plagued their talk the first few months they’d been a team. Books were exchanged to show the other a beautiful story or a new viewpoint. Yang even caught them sitting entirely too close in side-by-side beanbag chairs in the living room once, crying their hearts out to a sappy romance film. Yet Weiss still resisted her attempts to pry what she saw as the truth out of her.

 

But it was only a distraction in the end once no progress had been made.

 

“So did Rubes hear anything? Any work?” Yang asked through a mouthful of ham and pineapple, leaving Weiss with time to collect herself. Her tone was disinterested, as if she already knew the answer. Which she did. Ruby would have called if she had gotten a job.

 

Weiss took a deep breath and rubbed her face vigorously to collect herself. “Nothing yet. Look, Yang. I know you and Ruby are itching to use your skills and take on the world but it isn’t as if the city is going to be constantly under threat. We have, well, the rest of our lives to be Huntresses,” she reasoned, tone and cheeks calmer after the brief moment of respite from the playful harassment. Despite her complaints about the food choice she reached out for some pizza of her own, going to the trouble of retrieving a plate and taking a more delicate bite than Yang’s gaping mouthfuls. “Besides, what’s wrong with taking time to relax and enjoy being out of school? I for one find it quite nice to be able to take my time with a book or a crossword whenever I so choose.”

 

Yang’s abrupt departure from light-hearted banter to disheartened quiet never failed to throw Weiss off. It was a different side of the tall woman that few outside of her family and team saw. While she had to admit that her own expectations had left her ill-equipped for the change in pace of leaving the rigors of school, she had failed to realize how much it affected someone as high-tension as Yang. 

 

_ I suppose this is why Blake is her partner and not me… She could probably handle this much better than I can. That unbreakable calm of hers likely helps a lot. By comparison, turning Ruby’s mood around is rather simple really.  _

 

Yang’s quiet reply drew Weiss from her musings and refocused her gaze on the blonde. “Yeah… Guess you’re right. It’s just so…” A pause, filled with idle chewing and the retrieval of another slice of pie while the proper word was searched for. “Underwhelming, I guess.” 

 

A sigh escaped lips covered in bits of parmesan cheese. 

 

Weiss didn’t have much to say to that, unable to disagree that the lack of work had been disappointing. At the same time it was hardly unexpected when she thought about it rationally. It was only their first month and it wasn’t as if they could get noticed for work by merit of her former connection to the SDC, their only real claim to fame. It certainly wasn’t a reputable claim and did very little to inspire confidence.  

 

A silence both comfortable and not between them was held for a couple minutes while they ate, broken by Yang’s occasional burp or the rustle of moving cardboard. While they got along well enough as friends they seemed to hold the least in common out of any pair on the team. Even Ruby and Blake at least shared some interests in reading some fantasy stories in their leader’s calmer moments. It was hard not to envy Blake’s natural chemistry with just about anyone in times like these, though Weiss found herself thinking less of that and more of the way those amber eyes would slowly draw you in during quiet moments...

 

Alabaster hair waved as Weiss shook herself out of those thoughts, willing her face to not turn red. Luckily she was saved from the trap of her own wandering mind by the sound of rapid steps out in the hall, the sound echoing out through the impressive soundproofing with their energy.

 

Lilac and cerulean gazes met for a brief second when their front door was thrown open, a mess of rose petals trailing inside to mark Ruby’s excited presence, Semblance as overactive as her mood. She darted around like an excited puppy, bouncing like she was about to burst at the seams until Blake showed up a few seconds later at the door appearing winded from trying to keep up. “Ru- Ruby… Why…” she wheezed. She had been dragged all the way across town from her class before it had even ended at a full run with no explanation.

 

“Uhhhh, Rubes? You oka-”

 

Blake’s appearance heralded a shout that had Weiss nearly jumping out of her skin, sending a shiver down her spine with the message it brought.

 

“We got a joooob!”

 

Three pairs of eyes widened at Ruby’s interruption, expressions of surprise and excitement flashing through the room. Within seconds Yang pumped an arm in the air, crushing her little sister into one of her back-breaking hugs. 

 

“Hell yeah!”

 

Weiss watched the two with a bemused expression, her own hands clenching at the thought of using her skills in a new capacity. Regardless of what she said it was an exciting concept. Blake seemed to share that sentiment with her as their gazes met over the rambunctious siblings. Their feelings were of the more subdued variety, burning quietly in anticipation.

 

“So.. what are we doing for this job?” Blake asked in her quiet voice, starting to get her breath back as Yang made an excited sound on her way to her dresser, pink undies flashing the room as she rifled through drawers. 

 

“We’re going to the police station!” Ruby crowed, grabbing Weiss’ hands and trying to get the woman to bounce with her unsuccessfully, grinning at the eye roll she got.

 

She dropped her voice to a conspiratorial stage whisper, silver eyes glinting in the sunlight from their west-facing window. “They want us to help fight with the mob.”

* * *

“Seriously. Can’t you just put some clothes on? You’re like this every time I try to call.”

 

_ Then maybe you should stop trying to video call us first thing in the morning with this shit. _

 

Melanie’s voice wasn’t the most cooperative around sunrise, her ears only vaguely picking up Junior’s voice emanating from Miltia’s Scroll on the other side of the bed. Barely cracking open her eyes let her know that it wasn’t even quite morning yet, the faintest wisps of color appearing in the sky just outside the window on the far side of the room.

 

“Had you considered calling us when you know we’re actually going to be awake? I’m sure your boys in the background there greatly appreciate the view but you always seem awfully.. uncomfortable.”

 

_ She’s definitely looking at his crotch. Predictable idiot. _

 

Junior of course always brought them up on his big screen in his shady office, projecting a full image of himself on their Scrolls. He always stated that it was to put forward a strong image when he talked business but both sisters were convinced it was because he was just overly proud of his physique. One that was certainly lacking in the bulge department, as they’d unfortunately discovered in the course of these early morning calls.

 

“We certainly haven’t made it a secret that we sleep in the nude, Junior,” Miltia continued mercilessly, the faintest smirk in her voice. “Melanie’s my sister but we model together so she’s seen everything already. And while we don’t actually care if you see us...” she trailed off meaningfully.

 

“Like, what are you calling for anyway?” the grumpier sister asked in a louder voice, interrupting Miltia in favor of finally tugging herself the rest of the way out of her heavy duvet. Where her back had been exposed to the camera before now it was her front, smooth arms stretching high and drawing a startled shout from Junior. A lazy smirk flitted across her face at the sight of him recoiling before she pulled the blanket up over her chest and brought back her disapproving frown. “This better be worth waking me up at… 5:10 in the morning? You suck.”

 

Junior harshly cleared his throat, sounding like he was trying to cough up the very embarrassment so clearly drawn in the lines of his face. 

 

“Ahem… Like I was telling Miltia,” he started, low tones trying to draw back his pride bit by bit. “There’s a deal going down that I need you two to show up at. It’s just an exchange deal but there’s big names there so they want a big show. I just got told about it.” The effect of his serious tone was ruined by the twins’ casual nudity as Melanie stretched again, feigning boredom with a roll of her eyes. 

 

“So, like, you want us to look pretty and scary but be quiet. Like that’s totally different from what you normally have us doing,” she stated, dripping sarcasm from her very pores. 

 

“But the deal is important this time. They’re going to a lot of trouble to set this up so they’re paying us four times the usual to sit in on this.” 

 

Melanie was quiet this time, lacking her usual biting remark and raising a thin brow at the man on the Scroll instead. It was rare for Junior to act less like the blustering child he was and more the powerful man that his reputation claimed him to be. Not that he could bully them into doing anything anyway even though they were technically working under him. Flashing money in front of his eyes seemed to bring out that serious side of him though, the degree of it increasing proportionally with the amount.  

 

The sisters traded glances with each other, the same suspicion roiling in their eyes and making their lips turn down in identical frowns. That hardly seemed like a situation they would want to be involved in but their curiosity was piqued enough to look into it. It wasn’t as if Junior’s disorganized goons were the cream of the crop but they had numbers. Numbers that were apparently worth a lot to someone.

 

“Junior. How likely do you think a fight is?” Miltia asked calmly, taking the reins of the conversation on their end again while Melanie turned her gaze to her fingers, feigning boredom once more as she reached for a file to start treating her nails. It wasn’t as if the two of them didn’t have sour expressions quite frequently already, so Junior would have a hard time telling what was going through their minds. 

 

Melanie heard an angry sigh come through the Scroll, holding back a smirk at knowing they were getting under his skin again. It had been made clear time and time again that they were little more than hired muscle, if a little more skilled than the average thug that entered into the fold. As such, it was expected that they keep their mouths shut and do as they were told. She in particular was no big fan of that mentality and Miltia was hardly one for blind obedience either. Independent thinkers as they were, despite the impression they gave off of not caring, going into a situation they didn’t have a full grasp of drove them both crazy. 

 

Though this time they wanted to know just how big this was for a slightly different but related reason. 

 

“You’re really gonna question that much money?” Junior evaded in an aggravated tone, his frown only deepening when Melanie chuckled.

 

“We question like, everything,  _ boss.  _ So do you know something or not?” she asked, casually dropping the blunt question while examining her nails further and letting Miltia’s impassive stare do its work. Nothing seemed to unnerve the big man like unwavering eye contact. This tactic of trading subtle intimidation with upfront belligerence never failed to keep Junior off balance.

 

Sometimes they wondered who was really the “boss” in their little relationship. 

 

“I… don’t know,” Junior relented after a long silence, upper lip curling as his need to have them watching his back was made apparent. Giving in to their prodding told them that he was more worried about this than he wanted to let on. Or he still wasn’t being entirely honest still. Money also had the effect of sealing his lips even tighter than usual. “What I do know is that I’m going and I need to bring as big a show as I can.”

 

Looks between bright jade eyes in the dim bedroom were exchanged again, silently communicating and letting the mobster stew for a minute.

 

_ If this is as big as he’s making it out to be… That means the police are likely to show up and try to raid the trade-off. And if they are then the top people will bring in as much firepower as they can in case Hunters get called in.  _

 

Miltia’s jaw tightened, a flash of blonde hair in her mind’s eye that she swore was reflected in Melanie’s eyes. It wasn’t as if Hunters and Huntresses were called on all that much to help the police unless they were strong in tracking or following trails of clues. Their skills were more suited to fighting with reckless abandon in less civilized conditions than within city limits. When it came to organized crime however, those few in the world who had the ability to challenge the killers of Grimm cropped up with alarming frequency. Hence why the police would sometimes call in favors for help. 

 

“I think we can do it. When?” Miltia finally replied in her quiet voice, keeping eye contact with her twin while Junior breathed an obvious sigh of relief and rattled off details of when to meet up. It wasn’t until the call had been ended that the two spoke to one another, all pretense of keeping themselves covered abandoned with no more eyes on them and no more expectation of decency. 

 

“If there’s Hunters then the girl is gonna be there,” Melanie stated on her way over to the bathroom, warming the shower while she answered nature’s morning call. 

 

“Probably. It might not be easy to just fight her though, Melanie. She’ll have a team there and it’ll probably be a firefight.” Miltia spoke through the door until she was safe to step in, taking her own turn while Melanie stepped into the shower. 

 

Telling Junior that they were used to seeing each other naked was a bit of understatement. Growing up through foster parent after foster parent as children had taught them to trust no one but each other, hence why they did everything as a singular unit. The difference between “Melanie” and “Miltia” to someone from the outside looking in was as simple as a name and a color preference; white and red respectively. Most of what they shared that outsiders didn’t see was in their penchant for constantly taking care of one another, extending from the simple act of eating meals together to as far as taking identical careers and all but removing the idea of familial modesty from their lives. Yet they were still just family, looking out for each other first and foremost, even spurning romance in the interest of not complicating things. It was just easier that way. Outside of that they were as different as any pair of siblings could be.

 

“So? We’ve been in plenty of nasty stuff before,” Melanie called out over the water pouring over her back, lazily enjoying the pleasant heat. She reveled in the joys of the shower, never understanding Miltia’s desire to just be clean and done with it. “We just have to draw her out and then we can totally put her in her place. Junior and the rest should be able to handle the rest just fine.” Lack of interest in the finer details of the situation was Melanie’s calling card, her laser focus honed in on a single point at all times. When the risk was high but the reward higher she would leap to reach it, consequences be damned. 

 

Miltia, on the other hand, only sighed and leaned against the wall while waiting for her turn to wash the night’s grime away. “And how are we going to do that? Bank on her running off and doing her own thing? She seems like the type but she probably does things differently in a unit, just like us,” she mused, a hand on her chin as she contemplated the myriad ways a deal could go sour. Unlike her sister she considered as many aspects of a situation as possible, preferring to assess risk versus reward first.

 

Lack of information in this case wasn’t helping her analysis at all though, leaving her at a loss in trying to think of a way to enact payback. 

 

“If Junior’s bosses are worried about their numbers then I bet they expect a raid,” she continued aloud, echoing Melanie’s thoughts during the call. “Separating any Hunter team would be smart. We could also count on lots of chaos since Hunters will mop up Junior’s boys without a sweat…”

 

“I know you’re gonna do this for a year Miltia but like, do it in the shower. You stink,” Melanie teased, whipping her sister in the leg with her white towel to snap her out of her mumbling. She recognized when Miltia was too engrossed in her thoughts to take note of her surroundings, drawing her out with a joke. 

 

Apparently she’d been muttering to herself more than she realized, long enough that her twin finished her endless shower. 

 

“Like you don’t stink all the time. That new perfume you got is awful. Who in the hell wants to smell like a ‘Magnificent Blossom’? It smells like a ‘Magnificent Migraine’.” Air quotes were included, earning Miltia another slap on the leg for her jab.

 

“It’s not my fault you have no taste in perfume,” Melanie snapped back, her lips turned up in glee at the new game to be played, towel coiled in warning as Miltia reached for her own red towel hanging on the wall. 

 

A battle quickly ensued to land more hits and make more marks on the other’s legs, the two women giggling like children and shrieking with every smack. Both of them had their strengths in a fight, Miltia with her dexterous hands and Melanie with her fancy footwork. So the playful competition lasted a while with the younger of the two finally conceding defeat and escaping into the shower with a roll of her eyes. 

 

“Alright quit showing off,” Miltia called through the curtain, hearing the snort of laughter from the other side and watching Melanie’s shadow settle from a victory pose in the mirror. The play fighting had done as intended, relaxing her thoughts so that she could stop torturing herself over what-ifs. “So anyway. I think we should check in with Junior. See what else he knows cause I don’t think he’s being honest.”

 

“Like, is he ever?” Melanie retorted, the raise in her eyebrow practically audible until the whine of the hair dryer drowned it out. “I bet he at least knows who else is gonna be there already so we know how useless they’ll be.” 

 

“Point taken.” A low chuckle bubbled from Miltia, hands flicking the shower off in record time and marking her as clean. Their morning routine rarely changed with the exception of sick days or occasional stops for conversation, two bodies moving through the same steps one after the other to get ready for the day. 

 

Shower, drying hair, makeup, underwear, clothes, then out to the kitchen for food. And coffee/tea of course. 

 

“Here’s a thought, Melanie.” 

 

“Okay?” Melanie looked up from her skillet of vegetables and sausage, making eye contact briefly to show her twin she was attentive while cooking; multitasking was a must of course so she didn’t end up with oil on her hands or worse, her satin dress. The two of them were matching today in style, short halter dresses hugging their bodies in their customary red and white. “Like, I never like it when you start with that. Think of another thing that can go wrong?”

 

Upturned lips and a sly grin said that no, Miltia had not been formulating more contingencies. A devious thought had occurred to her while she drank her tea and let her mind wander, partly inspired by a certain part of their discussion earlier as well as by noting the way Melanie’s dress exposed a tantalizing triangle on her chest and occasionally shifted up her hips to showcase her pale thighs.

 

“No. But I did think of a way to make Junior spill some beans,” she murmured, watching her twin’s jade eyes twinkle with intrigue. Heat on the stove was killed and food forgotten for the moment, as Miltia’s expression, in those rare instances when it betrayed her trickster nature, drew her sister in. 

 

“Yeah? So spill.”

  
_ Oh, she’s going to love this _ …  _ And Junior will too, whether he wants to or not.  _


	4. Escalation

“Are you implying something about our clientele, Mr. Xiong? Or perhaps our methods of keeping our meetings secure?”

 

“O-Of course not, sir. I just like to know who I’m dealing with.” 

 

“Now if that isn’t the boldest lie you’ve ever attempted to throw in my face I would be hard pressed to recall a different one. I have never once known you to care one way or the other about who you deal with nor how many men you may lose to casualty or injury. So in turn I will ask you this… Do you consider your offered sum… insufficient?”

 

Shivers shot up Junior’s spine, the sensation of the proverbial knife touching the small of his back making his lunch curdle in his gut. There was a threat in the smooth baritone of his boss, only known to him by the name Mr. Ransom, even after five years of working under him. Aside from his name and his voice, Junior knew three things about the mysterious man; he expected complete obedience to his instructions, he paid a  _ lot _ of lien for his occasional jobs, and he was absolutely ruthless to anyone that failed him in any fashion. Asking for more money in this situation was a clear trap, one that he did not intend to be snared in. The last man he’d seen attempting a deal like that he had found much less a man in an abandoned warehouse…

 

“No, sir! I-I mean, the sum is more than enough,” he stammered, nearly tripping over all his words in his haste to stay on Mr. Ransom’s good side. “I-”

 

“Then I see no reason for you to have any further understanding of the situation beyond your position as the guardian of our assets.” Soft-spoken words with steel undertones cut through Junior’s barely concealed worry like a knife through warm butter. A long pause followed them, one that he barely felt comfortable even breathing through, let alone trying to speak further lest he anger his superior further. “But, in the interest of rewarding your drive and laying your worries to rest, I can throw you a bone, as it were.”

 

Junior awaited the man’s next words with bated breath, hearing the conniving smile through his Scroll as clearly as if they were in the same room. He hadn’t been expecting this turn in the conversation; had thought that the call would end with him knowing as little as he did at its onset. Maybe he would have to thank the Malachite twins in some subtle way for prompting him to try and learn more.

 

Though… maybe not since he wasn’t too keen on going through this process again.

 

“If you are familiar with him, you will know that Roman Torchwick is a rather… unique fellow,” Mr. Ransom began, noting the hitch in Junior’s breathing. He was definitely familiar with the red-headed crook. There were very few in their line of work who weren’t at least aware of his presence. “Uniqueness and a penchant for the flashier crimes however does not necessarily detract from his connections. Through him we will gain a boon that will assist us in many future operations in Vale. The most important part of this information, however, Mr. Xiong, is the nature of this boon. I urge you to remember that what you see with your own eyes is not the full situation. You are not and will not be privy to its entirety. Do as you’re told and all will be well. Ah. And speaking of doing as you’re told. I will be attending this meeting personally as well to ensure it proceeds smoothly.”

 

There was a pregnant pause while Junior processed what he was told, letting the words sink in fully. The air he breathed pressed down uncomfortably on his chest with the grave tones it carried to his ear. It took a concerted effort on his part to not anxiously squeeze his Scroll into a pile of useless plastic and circuitry. 

 

“Now, Mr. Xiong. Is there anything further you wish to add now that I have answered your question?”

 

And they were back to the subtle threats once more. It wasn’t as if his question had been completely answered, but pushing for more information than he’d already gotten would be a dangerous game to play. 

 

“No, sir. Thanks for your time,” he replied, the thrumming bass of his voice dropping further than normal to display his understanding of the gravity of the situation. It seemed to marginally help his case going by the pleased hum in his ear.

 

“Until we speak again, Mr. Xiong.”

 

_ Click. _

 

With the end of the call finally arrived Junior slumped in his office chair, unceremoniously dropping his Scroll on his desk and letting his head take its place in his hand. Playing word games was not his forte by any stretch, hence why he had never progressed far beyond his status as an information broker and supplier of muscle. He was content in his position and that conversation had highlighted exactly why.

 

_ Feels like talking to a damn lawyer that’s trying to make a murder charge stick. _

 

Dark eyes roamed blankly over his office, hardly seeing the neat, barren space aside from the unfinished glass of scotch he’d started before his call. The liquid courage had pushed him into it but had not lasted long, simply leaving him queasy. Now, however, he could go for being buzzed instead of anxious. He slammed the remainder of it down, shuddering and setting the glass back down on his shelf of alcohol. Sometime later would be a better time to work through the more expensive bottles up there, the stout stuff he’d just polished off serving its purpose for now. 

 

For now, he considered what he’d learned. 

 

Roman Torchwick. If he went searching through his dull filing cabinets he would likely be able to find years’ worth of copied records from justice departments all across Vale and beyond. And if he queried the networks through his computer there would be headline upon headline of the man’s various captures and escapes over the years.

 

Flamboyant was a fitting word for the supposed ‘master criminal’ with his love of making a name for himself in the process of making himself as wealthy as possible. While not always successful in his heists he was never captured for long, always managing to snake his way out with words or technicalities and brute forcing his way out when those failed him. 

 

Junior had even met the man a couple of times in person, though only just long enough to sign off the service of a few dozen mooks to the auburn-haired man that he could use and discard at his leisure. There were always more idiots thinking that they could make their way in life by working alongside someone more skilled than they were at breaking the law. Not always the case when that someone was Roman, who was well known for throwing anyone under the bus that wasn’t himself, but that was an accepted risk in this lifestyle. 

 

His presence in and of itself wasn’t that great of a concern though but it brought a larger light on the question of why the mob would need such a large presence for the deal. Notoriety tended to bring with it a fair amount of attention that could never quite be escaped. The likelihood of being interrupted was high with a name like that in play.

 

Bigger questions roiled in Junior’s mind about the more cryptic half of Mr Ransom’s message. Questions that had his feet wearing a hole in the thick carpet on his floor, pacing back and forth as if to aid his thoughts with kinetic energy. Why would he not be able to trust his own eyes to tell him the full situation? He couldn’t imagine any sort of cargo for trade that would give him pause, not in comparison to all the deals he normally oversaw. And what in the name of Remnant could possibly be so important that Ransom himself would attend? 

 

Weapons and ammunition. The ever-present need for Dust. Stolen military designs. He had even once been present for the sale of a captive creature of Grimm; a muzzled and caged Beowulf that he could never imagine wanting to keep for any reason aside from eradicating it. Trying to think of something that would throw him off badly enough to impair his ability to complete his job was hurting his brain.

 

The clink of glass on glass sounded as he decided to pour himself another tall round of scotch, sighing heavily and sipping the fiery amber liquid. Contemplating this only left him staring at his U-shaped desk as if one of the stacks of paper or digital drives might give him the answer he sought. 

 

What startled him out of his funk finally, an entire hour later he realized with a vacant stare at the time on his Scroll, was a new call from the front desk of his office. The building he was in did serve as his primary home in addition to his organizational space, a suite on the top floor containing his home and belongings. A professional-looking sign, drab and uninteresting compared to the nightclubs down the rest of the street, marked it as a “consultation firm” but that was of course a front that allowed very few beyond its waiting room unless they had business with Junior personally.

 

“What?” He flipped his Scroll open with an accusatory tone in his voice, aggravated at being disturbed as he didn’t have any plans to meet anyone today aside from collecting a new shipment of guns later in the night.

 

“Uh… Mr. Xiong?” The meek young woman that manned the counter was an extra layer of security, an air-headed appearance and bright pink, dyed hair concealing a ruthless mercenary type with a loaded, fully automatic weapon underneath her desk. She hardly sounded concerned of a threat but had no time to explain why she was calling in the first place due to an interruption. 

 

“Hey  _ booooooss _ ! Let us in already. Like, we came to ask you about a couple things.”

 

Junior made half an attempt to conceal a groan, covering his face with one massive hand. The alcohol in his system ruined the effect though, an exasperated sound escaping his throat. A pleased giggle sounded over the line, surprising him as always with the musical quality to it. When she wasn’t being a snarky, spoiled princess he could swear that Melanie might actually be a pleasant woman to be around with the looks and voice of an actress. 

 

“Come on, Shirley! Open the doors and let us go up! If he answered then he’s obviously not fucking busy.”

 

“It isn’t as if we’re planning on bringing some kind of bodily harm to your boss. We just want to  _ talk… _ ”

 

Forgoing the thought of Melanie being normal sometimes, he would take her disrespectful attitude over the silken words rolling off of Miltia’s silver tongue any day. He couldn’t believe the idea that they just wanted to talk when she used that tone any more than he could believe the story of The Four Maidens was real…

 

“Until he says yes, ladies, I-”

 

“Let them in.”

 

“...Yes, sir.”

 

Junior heard the buzz of the door behind Shirley’s desk releasing its lock and a fresh round of laughter from the twins before the call was dropped, pulling another deep sigh from his chest. 

 

Melanie and Miltiades Malachite… Deciding whether or not bringing them into the fold was a blessing or a curse was a matter of the day’s circumstances. After three years of having them in his employ he couldn’t say that he felt strongly one way or the other overall. Their initial meeting had been a simple one. A dingy bar atmosphere with a rough crowd had drawn the young women into a fight that they quickly overpowered in a two versus twenty scenario, drawing his eye and promptinf him to spontaneously offer them work to take advantage of their skills. Despite the polished and celebrity-like appearances they bore they took to his kind of work like fish to water. But, they also proved to be skilled with more than just elegant fighting.

 

Miltiades, or Miltia, as she’d quickly insisted on being called, had a tactician’s mind, planning out encounters in ways that both minimized his losses in drawn-out fights and maximized cash output in certain deals through subtle intimidations or blackmailing. She was generally quiet and subservient, preferring to just do as she was told and leave things well enough alone if she had the choice, observing from the background.

 

Melanie, however, seemed to show no interest in playing a supporting role. Flashy, arrogant, and prepared for all comers. Proving herself a strong presence had come with ease for someone that knew how to command the respect she craved, even if it came at the price of few friends. The only person she would truly take orders from with no question was Miltia; her pride only seemed to allow her to follow her boss’ instructions half the time at best, providing sarcasm at best and obstinate arguments at worst either way.

 

The two together were easily some of the most efficient people Junior had ever had working under him but he worried about those very qualities that made them so valuable. Ambition was all well and good but sometimes he could swear that they were plotting to shove him to the side and run things on their own. Questioning authority in his position was a dangerous game to play but they had no fear of that… They were also better at it than he. 

 

_ Knock, knock. _

 

“Knock, knock! Like, you gonna open up?” Melanie chirped through the door, prompting Junior to step over, only pausing long enough to realize that two pairs of unnerving jade gemstones were trying to watch him through his floor-to-ceiling, frosted glass window just to the side. 

 

It felt like they were succeeding… even though he knew no one could gather any details through the distortion. 

 

“So what do you-” 

 

Junior audibly choked on air, his gruff words caught in his throat as effectively as his heart was. He could feel the madly pulsing beat in his neck as soon as he saw the Malachite twins, feeling like someone had just tried to bring him to his knees by attacking him where it hurt most…

 

He was not sober enough for this. Or drunk enough. Deciding which would be better in this instance was beyond him at the moment. 

 

“What’s the matter, Junior? Cat got your tongue? We can come in, right?” Miltia asked with a tilt of her head and a small smile. 

 

It occurred to him that he was openly gaping at them both for at least twenty seconds, stepping back the instant he took stock of himself and remaining silent. His words were failing him still but the brick red in his face spoke volumes.

 

Junior had been exposed to Melanie and Miltia’s lack of modesty on plenty of occasions but this was on a new level. Counting nudity as the most sexual of appearances was an insult to the fashion designers of Remnant and the fact that the twins had some of the best around in their back pocket dimly registered somewhere in his mind. This was far more sensual than he could imagine clothes being...

 

Matching, skin-tight halter dresses hugging athletic curves flashed in front of him in alabaster and scarlet satin. They left enough to the imagination with their gentle propping of covered breasts next to exposed backs and pale arms as to drive the libido wild, tastefully covering the essentials while accenting what remained. Long legs clad in dangerous-looking high heels that wrapped ribbons up sleek calves and left creamy thighs free for admiration padded softly across the office, enticing thoughts of what positions they might be capable of assuming in a more intimate setting than this. 

 

“Not gonna close the door, boss? I thought you liked your privacy,” Melanie teased, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes, partially concealed by wispy bangs. The usual princess-cut hairstyles they both bore had been discarded in favor of elegant updos with almost strategically placed curls let loose to give an air of charged passion as if they’d just been through a quick roll with a lover. “I mean, I don’t mind an audience, but-”

 

The smile on the woman’s face only grew wider as she was cut off by the annoyed slamming of the door. Junior had come to the fast conclusion that these two were clearly capitalizing on their appearances in the video call this morning, arriving here purely for the purpose of harassing him further. Why else would they come dressed like this?

 

So he stomped past them, ignoring the heat in his own face and making for his shelf for more scotch. Being more drunk would probably help, right?

 

“What do you two want?” he asked again, keeping his back to them this time while he gulped scotch unnecessarily fast, remaining unaware of the knowing look the sisters passed between them. He was simply glad he’d managed to get the full question out this time without getting stuck again. “I don’t have any other jobs that I need you to come to right now. Everything else is handled until next week’s deal.”

 

“Nothing really. Just came to ask for an opinion. And, if you don’t want to because of being… uncomfortable then I understand.” Miltia’s voice was even softer than her usual dulcet tones, velvet caressing his ears and sending a shiver down his spine. He could swear she was standing right behind him though it was clear her voice was coming from across the room. It was an overly sweet tone that made him suspicious.

 

“What opinion?” he challenged, turning to face her and figure out her game. 

 

Melanie, however, was already in his space, leaning against his desk beside him before he could make the turn. She laid a hand on his arm, cocking a brow up at him when he stood stock still at the light contact. 

 

“Just wanted to see what you thought of these outfits. Too much for your deal? We’re like, a distraction, right? Is this enough?”

 

The purr rolling off the lips of the elegant creature at his side that was normally so abrasive caught him like a deer in headlights, an unwanted sensation of desire running through him as it was echoed almost immediately behind him with another brush against his back. 

 

“We already know that you can’t seem to help looking at us already, Hei Xiong. So what do you see? Enough to turn more heads than yours?” Miltia’s sultry tones washed through his mind with the same sudden electricity that Melanie’s hand on his arm brought.

 

“...What?” he croaked, reddening further from the clear break in his voice as he tried to pull away and lean against a different part of his desk. But identical gazes followed his movement and pinned him to his new location as effectively as iron manacles on his arms and legs. “I- I mean… It’s- It’s enough? That all you needed?”

 

Broad shoulders shrunk under the confusing heat of the twins’ eyes on him, his mind incapable of handling the mental assault and forcing him into a limited retreat of sorts. Beautiful women had always been a weakness for him but he’d never expected this kind of treatment from them.

 

_ They’ve never liked me. Why would they do this?  _

 

“Wow. What a boring answer. Maybe we need a little more excitement,” Melanie chimed, suddenly forcing herself into his space before he could react, rolling her eyes and fixing him with a look of amusement. “I mean, I don’t know about different clothes, but we could always… put on a show?”

 

“We could. Maybe just keep the place… occupied so no one can fight,” Miltia agreed, a devilish glint in her eyes that only served to magnify the heat under Junior’s collar. He tugged fruitlessly at his tie, frustrated by the lack of relief it brought. 

 

Pale hands batted that frustration away as quick as it had come though, readjusting the silk on his collar with deft fingers and cementing him in place against the desk. While one of the two was fiddling with that the other was sidling up to his side, brushing long fingers up his arm and drawing his attention to scarlet nails that swiftly found bare skin on his neck.

 

Considering he had once been blindsided by a young woman offering him a kiss after she had become thoroughly acquainted with his personal jewelry collection it was no real surprise that these two had him effectively paralyzed. 

 

_ There’s no way they actually like me enough to do this. What are they even playing at? Do I just throw them out? Or- _

 

“You know, Hei.”

 

Miltia’s tone of voice was almost conversational in his ear yet it still dripped down his spine like molten gold, lulling him into listening no matter how hard he tried to rationalize that this wasn’t real. Outside of his obvious appreciation of the female form it wasn’t as if he had any real outlets for any tension he built up. The twins were pushing all the buttons in his addled mind, well aware that he had no regular or even occasional lover to compare this experience to. Supposedly there was simply no time for personal relationships in the busy life he led.

 

“Maybe it would be easier for us to decide how to approach this if you just answered a little question.”

 

“Just a little one. The answer is probably even easier than you think.” 

 

“W-Wha?”

 

Simple words were even failing him now, the basic questioning phrase falling from his lips half-baked while twin sirens filled his head with deluded imaginings that he should have easily recognized as the fantasies of the desperate man he really was on the inside. He really should have known better than to even let this start.

 

“Who else is coming to the deal?”

 

_ What? _

 

“Torchwick.”

 

“Hmm… Anyone else?

 

_ Stop. _

 

“...Ransom.”

 

“Really now? What’s so important for him to show up?”

 

_ Shut the fuck up, you idiot! They don’t need to know that! _

 

“Dunno… He said to make sure I ignore it… just do my job…”

 

“Helpful, Junior. Thank you.”

 

“Neat. Well, thanks for the info,  _ boss. _ ”

 

Freezing air from the AC suddenly kicking into overdrive, coupled with the abrupt return of the twins’ clipped, business-like voices and their equally sudden departure from his personal bubble left Junior shivering in a new way that was wholly uncomfortable and disorienting. There was simply no time to even react as the two removed themselves from his office so quietly that he might not have noticed had the door not latched loudly into place. His eyes had apparently closed of their own accord at some stage, leaving him feeling every inch the fool that he had just been playing for sitting in his office alone like he was waiting for something that would never come.

 

Impotent rage rapidly surged through his frame, burning away the hormone fueled paralysis that had left him on the literal edge of his seat while the Malachite sisters toyed with him. It was almost unbelievable to him that they had gotten to him with so little build up if not for the fact that it had obviously worked. While a small, more rational portion of him recognized that there wasn’t all that much harm in them having the knowledge he had let slip, the greater part realized what an issue it was that he’d been so open to exploitation; how dangerous might it have been if those two had been undercover detectives and not his personal bodyguards? 

 

Some bodyguards they were. Not counting that fiasco with the blonde last month he’d felt like he was just being played for a fool on more than one occasion in the past few weeks. Every passing day seemed to bring with it a new attempt to buckle at his position of leadership over them; a new pass at dethroning him. It felt paranoid to think of it in those terms but he could feel that tug in his gut that his instincts were trying to prove their suspicions correct. 

 

Their effectiveness was still something he was loathe to relinquish though. Once this deal was over and done with… Then he could more closely examine the place the two held in his overall business. That’s what everyone else working under him was after all. A placeholder in the organization that made him money. Every tool eventually lost its edge or could be replaced by something newer and better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel like it's fair to say that Junior won't always fall for the same tricks.. Think he'll learn his lesson anytime soon?


	5. ...and Relaxation. Maybe?

East of city center, nestled into and cushioned by the mountain ranges surrounding the City of Vale, are the true suburbs of the nation. Exiting the business-heavy portions of the city towards the morning sunrise takes you down streets that grow progressively calmer as you go. Sidewalks are occasionally taken over by encroaching rose bushes or vanish entirely from the wear and tear of years of foot traffic. Signs leading to this, that, and the other shop are replaced by towering trees and mailboxes with their little red flags (some people still like good old-fashioned snail mail after all). Modern, industrial construction gives way to humble, cookie-cutter homes, lining the streets like the dutiful children boarding the buses taking them to school through the work week. 

 

Any average citizen making a living in the city is likely to call one of these placid places their safe space. Home base. That doesn’t mean that others beyond the norm don’t sometimes settle in as well though.

 

“Um… Well… Ta-da!” 

 

The blonde leader of Team JNPR gestured grandly towards the modest home that they had purchased together upon graduation. Rather than hunt the crowded streets of downtown or the cheap living to the south, they had chosen to rest in suburbia for their start. Jeanne’s generous bosom honestly swelled with pride beneath her rabbit hoodie at the sight of their slice of peace currently alight by the rays of the setting sun. The orange and red hues brought out the earthen tones of the outer walls nicely, as if showcasing an homage to the colors of their team. 

 

Yang let out an impressed whistle, grinning with the teasing line she had already prepared beforehand. “Wooow. Nice little love nest you guys have,” she quipped, nudging Pyrrha with an elbow in the side, her tone implying something that didn’t seem to get across to the redhead. 

 

_ Um… Why Pyrrha? If this is anyone’s love nest it’s- _

 

Jeanne’s confusion over Yang’s joke was interrupted by Nora’s explosive voice saying, “Hell yeah it’s nice! Ren and I get our own room now so we can have ALL the fun we want when we- MMFMMGH!”

 

“Come on, Nora. Don’t scare them away before they can see the inside.”

 

Laughter quickly spread through the group when Ren covered Nora’s mouth with his hand, lifting her up by the waist and carrying her towards the front door while she protested, caught between righteous indignation at being interrupted and her own mad amusement. 

 

“It really is a cute little place, Jeanne. It’s so… humble... I- I mean that in a good way, I swear!” Weiss’ cheeks pinkened, the white-haired woman waving her hands frantically as she realized her words might be misconstrued to mean something bad but the blonde merely laughed, used to her at times backhanded compliments by this point. 

 

“It’s okay, Weiss. I know it doesn’t look all that great on the outside but wait’ll you see what we did to the inside,” Jeanne stated proudly, puffing her chest out again and motioning for her friends in Team RWBY to follow Ren up the front path with an exaggerated flourish of her hands. It was a good thing she could be excited about showing off their new place like this, distracting her from the awkwardness lingering from one of her last interactions with the former heiress. A deep breath was still needed to steady herself once the elegant mane of white hair had passed by, helped by a supportive hand on her shoulder. 

 

Pyrrha had a kind look in her eyes as always, nudging her partner forward as she’d done so many times over the past three years and especially in the past three months since that disastrous night that Weiss had turned Jeanne’s last ditch effort at a romantic proposal for a date. 

 

Three years of a hopeless crush ending in a staunch refusal was hard to recover from but she had a fantastic redheaded friend always offering a shoulder to cry on.

 

“Holy shit! Bean bag mountain!”

 

“Fuck ye-!”

 

“Ruby Rose don’t you indulge in your sister’s habits of foul language! And Yang Xiao Long don’t you encourage her by teaching her even worse things!”

 

“Yeah, whatever, Ice Mom! I call the fattest one!”

 

“Aw, Yang! No fair!” 

 

Jeanne and Pyrrha began laughing as they brought up the rear, first catching sight of Weiss’ flushed neck as she chastised her partner and teammate just like a mother would. Then they saw past her to their front room where Nora had recently chosen to build a veritable mountain out of her numerous bean bag chairs, colored in as many hues as the rainbow possessed. The two sisters immediately set to climbing it like children, only to be challenged by a rogue Nora who began laughing maniacally with hands on hips at the top. 

 

“You’ll have to go through me first to claim such a prize! The Queen of Bean Bag Castle allows no one to intrude on her lands so easily!  _ I  _ am the Queen of the castle!”

 

After a moment’s nervous hesitation Jeanne clapped a friendly hand on the sighing Weiss’ shoulder, chuckling as the woman spoke into her hand in a mortified tone. 

 

“I’m so sorry they act like such children all the time… I swear they’ve been acting much more adult-like recently.”

 

“Nah, don’t sweat over it. We weren’t expecting much since we all know how they get when Nora’s around too,” Jeanne giggled, offering Weiss an awkward one-armed hug that she only half leaned into before letting her go and pulling aside to slide her ratty sneakers off and motion their guests further in. “But hey, make yourselves comfy! We’ve got plenty of places to sit besides Nora’s bean bags.”

 

Blake hardly needed more of an invitation than that, immediately making a beeline for a squishy recliner that had her instinctively curling into a ball with a contented hum. Weiss followed slower, taking the other recliner next to hers and looking around the room while Jeanne and Pyrrha busied themselves with clearing what seemed to be the remnants of a board game in progress from the coffee table. 

 

Both of the sitting members of Team RWBY had to admit that Jeanne had been right about the inside of JNPR’s home being much more impressive on the inside, Nora’s ridiculous and multicolored pile aside. All of the furniture, their two recliners, a cozy loveseat, a full couch and glass coffee table and end tables, fit an aesthetic of comfort and efficiency. To Weiss’ studied eye it was as if a professional interior designer had put everything together with a perfect eye for balance against the floor space and the pretty paintings that had been put up on the walls. Grand views from atop mountain ranges, gently rolling plains, and even a powerful image of the ostentatious upper echelon of Mistral depicted symbolically over its more rough-and-tumble cousin on the lower levels could be recognized from the works of art. And even more besides that couldn’t be placed so easily without more time to examine the abstract lines. 

 

“Pyrrha?” Weiss queried, drawing a hum from the redhead who was in the process of wiping the table down. “I didn’t know you studied interior design on top of everything else. I am quite impressed by the attention to detail you’ve given your living room.” Her admiration of the proper angles and calculated placements of even the television and side tables was interrupted by Pyrrha giggling, her vibrant lips turned up in a smile. 

 

“Oh, I didn’t make any of the decisions on where to put things, Weiss. Ren, Nora and I completed all of the heavy lifting while Jeanne told us exactly where to put everything. Why wouldn’t I look to my leader to help decide how to organize?” 

 

Pyrrha, and Blake as well, both giggled at Weiss’ cheeks burning pink again as her assumption was proved wrong, though her shocked gaze immediately turned to Jeanne to appraise the blonde more carefully. The woman in question had actually just come back from the set of stairs near the front door, her hoodie exchanged for a baggy t-shirt decorated with a diagram labeled ‘How to pick up chicks’ depicting a stick figure picking a baby chicken off the ground. 

 

She paused in the middle of re-braiding her golden tresses, caught by her former crush fixing her with a searching gaze, her own deep blue eyes widening a little. “Is there… something on my face?” she asked, holding her progress with one hand to brush the other over her cheeks and mouth, paranoid that she had left some traces of the sandwich she’d eaten on the way back home on her lips. 

 

“...No. I just… wanted to compliment you on the design choices of your home…” Weiss stated, looking away and glaring at the two who started up with a round of fresh laughter at her expense. She could honestly say that she hadn’t expected the dense blonde to have a hidden skill like that. Though, to be honest, the rest of Team JNPR as well had been surprised to see the blonde take charge so readily when it came to decorating. The tomboy wasn’t typically very conscious of aesthetics or appearances in her interests, showing a predilection for combat training or other physical activities rather than more stereotypical hobbies like following fashion or makeup trends. 

 

Jeanne blushed under the praise, looking pleased as her hands returned to cleaning up her hair frizzy from the summer sun’s humidity. Perhaps her usual short-sleeved sweater hadn’t been the best option for going out in but she hadn’t initially expected to be out and about as long as they had been. “Thanks, Weiss. I just figured it’d be good to plan things out so we don’t have to worry about tripping over everything. You have no idea how many times I nearly busted my teeth trying to get around nine people  _ and  _ furniture back home.” Growing up with seven sisters was complicated business and tended to bring a lot of messes with it. 

 

“Oh, that reminds me. I was going to ask you how your family has been doing earlier today, Jeanne. Before we got distracted,” Pyrrha recalled with a smile, moving over to make space on the loveseat for her partner to sit on. 

 

“Do you want the rundown on every sister or just the basics?” the blonde asked with a laugh, hopping over the back of the seat and plopping down with an energetic bounce to start the conversation. 

 

It really would take a while to cover it all, especially since Pyrrha seemed to revel in learning about her friends’ families and backgrounds where she could, asking as many questions as she could about all the little details. Jeanne just so happened to be her only teammate who had much to say as Ren and Nora remained mostly tight-lipped about their childhoods, leaving the blonde to answer a lot more of those queries. Ren and Nora had shared the basics of their childhood experiences with their teammates but not much beyond that; enough that Jeanne and Pyrrha could be mindful not to ask too many more questions to avoid bringing up old wounds. They were all happy enough now as it stood.

 

Segueing from talks of family over to the current state of their two groups was easy enough once that topic had been exhausted, helped along when Ren interrupted by bringing them all drinks in the middle of him preparing dinner. Jeanne quickly offered to help with the grill so he could focus on other parts but he smoothly turned her down, escaping back and leaving his leader to socialize more. 

 

The blonde was soon smiling over coffee and tea again while Weiss and Blake regaled herself and Pyrrha with talk of Ruby and Yang’s constant string of complaints about boredom, Weiss’ immersion in the world of stock prices and crossword puzzles, and Blake’s forays into her newfound hobbies of writing and amateur photography. Team RWBY overall seemed to be struggling with the lack of engaging activities they had now, each of them trying to fall back on other interests to occupy their time and meeting success halfway. 

 

Jeanne and Pyrrha had plenty to offer in return for learning what their friends had been up to since graduation, talking about Ren and Nora’s miniature honeymoon phase as the couple ran around the city participating in all manner of silly events together. She knew that so far they had gone on races with go-karts, rock climbing, skydiving, to amusement parks, ocean fishing, and so many other activities. They were gone nearly every day, leaving Jeanne and Pyrrha to linger around the house, plotting out training regimens and exercising when they weren’t relaxing with comedic television series or scouring the boards on the web for Hunting work. A few shopping excursions had even been made, though Jeanne had had a difficult time not flinching when Pyrrha tried to buy her a few Mistralian dresses that each cost about as much as a second top-of-the-line television without even blinking. It was easy to forget that Pyrrha hadn’t exactly lived an impoverished life before coming to Beacon with the funds afforded to her by the prestige that came with her ‘Invincible Girl’ title and her own family’s apparent wealth. She was no Schnee but Jeanne had come to find that her ideas of what was ‘cheap’ were sometimes vastly different from her own. 

 

But eventually those topics exhausted themselves, relative silence falling over the seated group while Yang, Ruby, and Nora clamored over one another in a new competition over a three-way fighting game displayed on the large television against the far wall. They seemed to have reached a settlement concerning the bean bag chairs at some stage with Nora occupying an overstuffed, bright pink throne atop the pile while Ruby and Yang held places at her side and slightly lower like her princesses afloat on their own red and gold marshmallows. 

 

Lovely smells of grilled meat and vegetables were starting to drift in from the patio, filling the room with the reminder that dinner was a little overdue from the usual. The exciting afternoon that both teams experienced had pulled JNPR away from their normal routine. RWBY’s schedules had fallen somewhat to the wayside without the regimented hours of Beacon holding them to days and nights, so they didn’t notice the shift as readily.

 

“So… Should we talk about the job we all got?” Jeanne asked, looking around at Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake again with a more serious look in her eyes. Or, she tried to ask at least, before she was interrupted by a ferocious rumbling in her own stomach. “And just… y’know… ignore that,” she mumbled, embarrassed by the intense sound and Pyrrha’s immediate laughter at her side. She reached out and slapped weakly at her partner’s bare shoulder, the woman’s sleeveless blouse crumpling as she retreated into the opposite corner of the loveseat to giggle. 

 

“Or we could go see if Ren is ready for us to come and eat first,” Pyrrha offered, looking up expectantly as the raven-haired man appeared in the patio doorway as if on cue.

 

“I have shish kebabs and burgers ready if anyone is ready to eat.” 

 

“Food?! Boy am I ever ready to get some -boop!- food in me!” Nora exclaimed almost as soon as she heard Ren’s voice call into the house, immediately abandoning her game and dashing out past him. She didn’t pass up the chance to lay a chaste kiss on his lips on her way by though, the young man’s face lighting up with a soft glow of happiness as he stood aside to let Ruby and Yang quickly follow after his hyper lover. 

 

“Go on, lover boy. Go eat with her.” Jeanne waved Ren on ahead so he wouldn’t wait until everyone else had served themselves, trying not to look too eager herself as she and her three companions unwillingly extricated themselves from soul-sucking cushions. Watching Ren look happily embarrassed by Nora’s very public displays was always a bittersweet event for the sappily romantic blonde, her chest tightening in a way that had nothing to do with her underwear. 

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to sneak in first, Jeanne?” Blake asked innocently, her ears clearly canted forward beneath her bow in anticipation of another growl from the woman’s stomach. She wasn’t disappointed either, the grumble even pulling Ruby and Yang’s open mouths away from their messy burgers as they joined in the laughter from the other group. 

 

“Want a bite, Jeanne-y girl?” Yang waggled her eyebrows suggestively, taking what could only be construed as a seductive bite of her monstrous sandwich, the effect thoroughly ruined when an unhealthy amount of ketchup, mustard, and relish oozed out of the sides.

 

“No thanks, Yang. I’ll get my own,” Jeanne returned, her ears bright red as she hastily constructed her own modest burger while Ruby laughed over her sister’s antics.

 

“Ha! She turned you down again, Yang. Think you’re losing your touch?” she asked of her older sibling, receiving a withering look from lilac eyes that failed to hide the amusement behind it. 

 

“Of course not, Rubes. I’m just trying to see if Jeanne wants to have some fun while we  _ relish  _ our time as single ladies!” 

 

A chorus of groans echoed throughout the group while Yang laughed uproariously, spraying condiments in the air and somehow managing to miss everyone when she caught Weiss’ classic Ice Queen stare from the other side of the grill. 

 

Jeanne could only shake her head at the other blonde’s antics, the smallest of smiles hiding behind her first large bite of her burger. Out of all her friends she wouldn’t have expected her biggest supporter in romance to be Yang of all people, not counting Pyrrha as her best friend in the true number one spot. But, the sunny dragon had given her every bit of advice possible since first noticing the crush on Weiss she’d held onto since their first year at school, coaching her and encouraging her to put herself forward when almost everyone else hadn’t even been quite sure what to make of a girl liking girls. Yang hadn’t even questioned it, waving aside her explanations of finding the company of boys vaguely unsettling at times after an entire childhood filled with women in favor of simply offering up her own amusing anecdotes of dates gone terribly wrong with both men  _ and  _ women. It certainly helped to show her that plenty of other people considered the preference to be quite normal. And sure, the occasional bouts of getting hit on were equal parts amusing and frustrating since she was fairly sure they wouldn’t ever really get along well enough for a relationship, but they helped tremendously in normalizing her orientation among their friends. 

 

Hell, she was fairly certain that since the onset of their friendship, several of her friends had begun to question their own sexualities, though she only had vague guesses and Yang’s occasional teasing to go off of. Which, the latter of the two could be quite unreliable as she seemed to harass people purely to get a rise out of them as often as not. Despite the obvious disappointment of things never panning out with Weiss she was fairly certain there might have been some chance in a different set of circumstances since there had been a significant pause before she had been so summarily turned aside, ice blue eyes focusing on her lips in the gap. The only exceptions she could think of were her own teammates asRen and Nora were staunchly only interested in each other and Pyrrha appeared to need nothing more than good friends, something she was happy to be with the young woman. The two of them were in completely different leagues anyway and had always been that way. 

 

“Really though! We gotta have some fun at least, right? It’s not like either me or Jeanne have actually managed to  _ skewer  _ someone into place and keep them around. It’s pretty hard for either of us to stick to the  _ straight  _ and narrow.” 

 

Clearly Yang wasn’t done with her jokes, picking up a shish kebab and poking it playfully in Jeanne’s direction, making the young woman choke on her unwilling laugh. Pyrrha was thankfully there in a flash with napkins to help her clean her front, the both of them giggling while Yang dodged away from Weiss’ unamused slap for her terrible jokes. Mostly unamused anyway. Everyone could see the iron will that she was employing to try and keep that frown in place, though the corners of her mouth were twitching in rebellion. 

 

After some more joking comments as everyone tried to get the terrible puns to stop the group’s conversations turned to more normal topics beneath the steadily setting sun, the sky’s theme shifting to twilight and kicking the patio lights on. Everyone’s focus was soon as much on the delicious food as it was on the talk, words constantly muffled by full mouths or erased entirely by ravenous chewing. It wasn’t until everyone had moved back inside to avoid the encroaching gnats and mosquitoes that came with the full departure of the sun that Jeanne finally tried to bring up the topic she’d tried for earlier, taking advantage of the euphoric aftermath of Ren’s delicious food that was putting people halfway to sleep on squishy chairs. 

 

“So…” she began, scratching idly at a bright pink mark on her neck from being bit. Her legs were curled up on the loveseat again next to Pyrrha, her pose mirrored by her partner and their feet butting up together in the middle. Yang had given her a couple of smirks from her bean bag, eyes flicking to the redhead at her side as if to communicate something but she’d only given her confused blinks in return. “What does everyone think about the job? Anyone nervous?” she asked, easily noting the sudden shift in the room. Tension blew the lethargy of full, warm bellies from the room like a frigid wind and brought 7 pairs of eyes to Jeanne’s face in an instant, all of them recalling what had prompted this sudden reunion, though it wasn’t as if it hadn’t been on everyone’s mind to some degree the entire time.

 

Team RWBY had received the summons to the police station to talk about their first job as Huntresses the day prior, not for Hunting but for help in fighting organized crime. But they hadn’t been the only team called on. Jeanne and the rest of JNPR had already been waiting in the lobby of the main station when their friends arrived, a very brief but confused reunion occurring in the crowded space before they had been curtly ordered back to speak with a grizzled detective in a dingy conference room. 

 

Detective Jonathan Morris had regarded them all with the look of a man that had seen more than his fair share of violence, a scarred visage and a voice harshened by more than just time curbing their youthful enthusiasm and preventing even Ruby and Nora’s boundless energy from excitedly asking the particulars of the job they were being offered. They were to be given it at that man’s pace, in short order with only a few minutes time to ask questions after. Fifteen minutes was all it took to complete the entire ordeal.

 

In a week’s time there was to be a meeting between two different organized crime rings; one hailed from Vale itself with unknown connections that kept it afloat despite the police’s constant attempts to disrupt their struggle for dominance and the other had agents representing its brethren from somewhere within Mistral’s vast networks of lawbreakers. Intelligence gathered from ‘an inside source’ had informed the Vale Police that stolen Atlas Military property was the sole focus of the deal, prompting that country to send a directive to the department that they intervene before the military itself saw fit to do so. Weiss had only noted to the two groups after the fact that such an act would be a big issue in its own right as the Atlas Military had no legal grounds with which to intervene with but that hadn’t been much of a point to bring up at the time. 

 

As a result of both the Vale Police department’s own management pushing for this deal to be halted on top of the pressure from Atlas, resources were being gathered to do just that. While it wasn’t believed that either group would have enough firepower to outgun the full might of the police, both teams learned that it was even more common than they had been taught for Hunters and Huntresses to be called in for problems like these. Several tens of cases every year involved rogue elements where a Hunter’s strengths proved to be what was needed to bring criminals in, protecting the common folk of the world from people who cared little for others’ troubles. So with the knowledge that at least one of these groups had the ability to steal from the Atlesian military, they assumed that Hunters would be needed to handle this situation. 

 

Their lack of track record as official Huntresses and Hunter wasn’t an issue as their abilities were already well known from their exploits at Beacon, each of their teams having received exceptionally high praise for the prowess they displayed upon graduating. 

 

So in the end it was purely down to the question of whether or not they would accept the work; would they have RWBY and JNPR as backup or would they have to seek out someone else that may or may not have prior engagements. 

 

“I’m pumped for this already, are you kidding me?!” Yang crowed, hopping up from her seat with her arms flexed in a macho victory pose. “RWBY and JNPR in action in the real world! Kicking the shit out of a bunch of mafia punks and lowlives!” 

 

“I don’t mean to burst your bubble but this is a bit more serious than some ‘punks and lowlives’,” Weiss interjected coldly, the blonde simmering down to a lower note when she saw more tense faces than excited ones. Ruby looked to be sharing more of her enthusiasm but it was certainly tempered with a healthy dose of something close to fear, apparent in the pinch of her brow. “We’re talking about a group of unknowns who not only have the gall but also the ability to stand up to the Atlesian military. It stinks of that short-lived plot that we stumbled across in our first year when that Roman Torchwick stole a Paladin mech.”

 

“Do you suppose you could elaborate on that for those of us that weren’t there, Weiss?” Ren asked in his quiet voice, surprising the others with his quick follow-up. Jeanne did wonder about the event Weiss mentioned though, having only heard vague, secondhand details from her friends about it. 

 

“There isn’t actually much to tell,” Blake responded instead, holding a hand up to Weiss who nodded soberly to let her Faunus teammate take the reins. Ears twitched beneath her bow uncomfortably, multiple times even as if itching to be free. “What we do know is that at the time, he was trying to collect a lot of Dust in concert with the White Fang… What for I don’t think we’ll ever know because a couple of months later there was that big bust where he got captured trying to cause a panic near Mountain Glenn. Then he escaped and vanished completely. The White Fang scattered after that too. But we know that he’s somehow able to steal almost whatever he wants from Atlas. At the times those mechs weren’t even six months old.”

 

“So you think there is a strong possibility that he is involved in this incident as well,” Pyrrha stated in her formal tone, dropping the temperature in the room a couple more degrees with her serious statement. 

 

“He’s a ridiculous character but he’s not worth underestimating.” Blake sounded especially frustrated by that fact, the sentiment echoed in the frown on her team’s faces. They had had enough chance dealings with the man in their first few months attending Beacon that they were quite familiar with his tendencies toward the flamboyant. 

 

“If this man can muster that much firepower alone I wonder what he could do if he really is allied with these groups… How much do you think we need to be prepared for? Ruby? Jeanne?” Ren’s quiet voice asked the question that they were all wondering, forwarding the judgment call to the two leaders of the teams present. 

 

Jeanne had to sit there and honestly think about it before saying anything though, blue eyes closing while she turned the ends of her braid over in her fingers. Whether or not it actually helped her think was debatable even in her own mind but it wasn’t something she could really help at this stage. It was just a habit that frequently cropped up whenever she had to think something through.

 

“Even if it seems like something he might be involved in it doesn’t mean that he is,” Jeanne reasoned, meeting Ruby’s silver-eyed gaze and seeing that the younger leader had come to the same conclusion. “But even if he’s not that doesn’t also mean that someone with as much ability isn’t also behind it,” she added, cutting off Weiss’ attempted interjection before it could even escape her pale lips. Taking command had come much easier with time for the blonde, the mantle of leadership resting easier on her shoulders than it used to. Which was good since she had plenty to carry with them anyway…

 

“Besides that though, we do need to start treating any jobs we get as seriously as we can anyway. It’s like they kept telling us the whole last year… Every single time we fight could be our last so we have to fight with everything we have. The Detective told us that there will be tons of guns there so we should prepare to take on people in big defensive moves that can burst out to cause lots of damage at once. We don’t know how many special enemies there will be but we know for sure that there are gonna be a lot of basic thugs so we can plan for that at least.”

 

Jeanne’s breakdown was accompanied by her looking down while she mused, her hands rhythmically working her hair in circles around her fingers, trance-like in her focus. She of course missed the gazes stuck on her during the process but she could hear the vague snickering that happened once she’d delivered and subsequently fallen silent with her thoughts. Blue eyes looked around to find the source with mild irritation but only found Yang, watching her flick her gaze between herself and Pyrrha at her side again. 

 

So she looked around to find Pyrrha already looking her way, a transfixed look on the redhead’s face as if she’d been already been staring for a while. “Pyrrha?” 

 

Pyrrha jumped as if she hadn’t been expecting Jeanne to speak, the blush on her cheeks getting brighter than her makeup had already made it to be. “Y-Yes?”

 

“...We should probably get together our stuff for Formation Delta and be ready to shift to Formation Beta for the raid. That should give us better chances at not getting hurt and protecting the police at the same time in case there’s someone with Aura abilities or a Semblance.” 

 

“Oh. O-Of course. That would be best.”

 

Yang let out a small, disappointed sound, her shoulders falling while Ruby began to echo Jeanne’s sentiments in clear agreement, hopping down the mountain to lean on the headrest of Weiss’ chair and talk tactics in a subdued voice. There was an excited note to her words but she was taking things rather seriously all the same, clearly not seeing whatever it was that Yang was getting so bummed over.

 

“Is something wrong, Yang?” Jeanne asked after a couple of minutes of talking with her own team, looking around at the other blonde once Pyrrha seemed to have pulled herself out of whatever her funk was and started responding normally.

 

“Nah. Not really,” came the dismissive reply, though the odd spark in her lilac eyes said otherwise. Jeanne had talked enough with the young woman behind closed doors to recognize when she had something to say that was more private in nature. Yang had her tells just like anyone else but it was much more subtle than one might believe with all of her usual bluster. She didn’t intend to push the issue when they had other things to talk about. If Yang needed it to be said now she would say it. 

 

And nothing more of note happened for the rest of the night.

 

How nice it would be had that been the case.

  
  


“W-What?! She what? No way, Yang. You’re just messing with me this time, don’t lie to me.”

 

Jeanne set her feet down in a firm pose, crossing her arms under her bust and staring Yang down with more than the usual sort of aggravation that one had in their eyes when dealing with the brawler that wielded teasing words as easily as her gauntlets. 

 

_ I knew this was gonna happen… Man, she is so  _ **_dense_ ** _ though. I can’t take this anymore! I don’t know how Ren and Nora deal with it all the time. Well, maybe Nora doesn’t notice it but there’s no way Ren doesn’t see it. I wonder if he’s ever tried to do some matchmaking for them… _

 

Yang sighed heavily, hearing her sister and teammates just outside the door of JNPR’s house doing their last goodbyes before they left for the evening, killing time waiting on a late-night taxi to arrive. They had stayed well over an hour having in-depth tactical discussions about the way their groups could coordinate within what information they had about this deal they were going to bust. But now it was getting really late and they realized that they had to make a call for transportation since none of them had purchased a vehicle besides Yang. It wasn’t like all four of them could pile onto Bumblebee for a jaunt across the city. The buses served them well during the daylight hours but it wasn’t as if they went places as a group during the twilit ones.

 

Leaving her with just a few minutes in which to convince Jeanne that Pyrrha was harboring a gigantic crush for her the same way she had done to Weiss for almost three years. The problem was that this had two  _ big  _ parts that had to be worked through to make anything work: One, Jeanne had to be one of the densest girls Yang had ever met, on par with most of the brainless dudes she’d had the misfortune to meet and even date on occasion. And two, she was almost 100% certain that Pyrrha was completely in the dark as to her own feelings. There was no way that such an upright girl from such a stereotypically normal household didn’t think she was straight as a ruler. Well, Yang could easily see that the redhead was about as straight as a wet noodle, even if it was just regarding the one girl. 

 

“I’m not kidding at all, Jeanne,” Yang reiterated as sincerely as she could manage, smiling kindly at her blonde friend and clapping a hand on each of her shoulders to look her in the eyes. “Look, I don’t even expect you to do something about this right now but it’s been happening for so long that I can’t just  _ not  _ say something… Seriously!” 

 

Jeanne had the most incredulous look on her face that said she wasn’t buying into Yang’s words in the least, leaving her mildly disheartened if not for the fact that those ocean blue eyes refused to meet her own for longer than a couple of seconds. She may as well press the advantage she had while it lasted.

 

“Jeanne. I’m gonna give you crap about stuff until the day I bite the big one but I’m not gonna lie about this. As hard as it might be to believe, you’ve had Pyrrha trapped in your court almost from day one. Pretty sure she thinks she’s straight but I  _ guarantee  _ that she’s more into you than Ruby is into cookies and milk.” 

 

Jeanne clearly couldn’t shake off the scoff that escaped her throat, making them both crack a smile at the terrible comparison. She meant it in complete sincerity though, unquestioningly certain that she was right about this. 

 

“I don’t want to call you a liar, Yang… But really? I hang out with Pyrrha every. Single.  _ Day _ . You really think I wouldn’t notice if she really was into girls? I told you before but when people call you a dyke all the time you get to know who else is too. She’s my best friend, Yang. I’d notice.”

 

Both of them could hear the wavering in Jeanne’s conviction at the end of her statement though. She was clearly combing the depths of her brain trying to find any evidence at all to support Yang’s claim… and certainly seemed to be coming up with at least one or two things.

 

“And I’m telling you, Jeanne, that sometimes it’s a  _ lot  _ harder to see from up close like that,” Yang’s rebuttal was gentle but obviously struck a chord somewhere. “Like I said though, you don’t have to  _ do  _ anything about it right away. But I wanna see you be happy and I know you and Pyrrha’d be  _ amazing  _ together. You guys are best friends, right?” 

 

It was hard to tell if her support was being taken how she wanted it to be but there was an irritated honk from outside nudging Yang in the side as hard as a certain Ice Queen’s elbow usually did, insistently commanding her attention. So she had to offer one last thing to help her push before her ride decided to leave without her. She pulled Jeanne into a tight hug, nothing like her usual back-breaking grips of friendship but the warm embrace of familial love, offering her friend everything that words couldn’t quite convey.

 

“Good luck, Jeanne!”

 

Then she was flying out the door, jogging to the taxi and throwing a high-five on Nora’s waiting hand, waving at the other two JNPR members as she was carted away. It was easy to ignore Weiss and Blake’s jibes at her for being a slowpoke on her way to the car in favor of focusing on what little she could still glean from Jeanne’s facial expressions, trying to see if she’d had a positive effect. Worries that she’d made a mistake of course chose that moment to start creeping in now that she was away from the person she’d been trying to encourage. And those worries weren’t helped along as she clearly read the whispered words off of Jeanne’s lips, her stomach flipping anxiously.

 

_ You have  _ **_got_ ** _ to be kidding me... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter will explain the reason for the "Gender Changes" tag on the front of the story. I have wholeheartedly accepted this adorable headcanon of good ol' Jauney boy actually being "Jeanne Arc", inspired by these lovely little images from a twitter user whose name I quite honestly don't know as I can't read these characters. I will provide a link here for those who want to see though.
> 
> Also, Yang is a wee little shitlord and I will forever love her for it!
> 
> https://twitter.com/genjitutohing/status/913674059077971968?s=17


	6. So Much More in the World

Ruby Rose. Huntress. Weapons enthusiast. Friend. Lover (of cookies and milk). Leader of Team RWBY, now out in the world and learning how to live a day at a time in the life of an adult rather than a student. It was hard realizing that each day only brought as much as fate saw fit to bring, so far only bringing more time for hobbies and time to hang out with friends. And no, she certainly wasn’t turning down the time for all of these things she loved! Of course not!

 

Never once in her time at Beacon had she had the time to attend an engineering convention hosted by Vale’s Technological Society. There had always been a mock mission, an extended training exercise, or an important final test for a course (to borrow Weiss’ favorite phrase… Ugh!) that fell in the same time slot. Now she had finally been able to go see one in person rather than reading the article about it after the fact, gleefully drinking up every moment of it and coming away with so many new and wonderful ideas to lavish upon her beloved Crescent Rose.

 

Opportunities to spend time with her best friends in the world were forever being cut short by other obligations during the school year: homework, sleep, classes, practice… and anything else that she knew needed done before she could have fun. She couldn’t look forward to those as much as bonding time though. Becoming a Huntress had been her dream her whole life and now she was determined to live that dream with all of her being, now that she was free of all those other obligations aside from the human necessities. That also meant time for friends was at an all-time high as well, leaving one major disappointment.

 

No work. Three years of studying and training and anticipating had hit a sudden stop those first couple weeks after graduation, leaving the redheaded leader with a tense confusion as she wondered when she could fulfill her purpose as a helper and savior of people… Lacking incidents didn’t seem to be a real factor in this; every day she could read articles about another Grimm nest eliminated in the wilds outside of the city or another posting on a particularly powerful Grimm that needed exterminated. Yet every time she found an opportunity to jump on, someone else had beaten her to it.

 

But now! Now they had a real-life application for their skills and in two short days, no less! It had been nearly a week since their big meetings with the Vale Police and then Team JNPR, their unexpected partners in their first experience as fully-fledged Huntresses and Hunter. The surprising nature of the job was something they had all worked through in their talks and in their individual minds; they just had to look at it the same way they had when fights had been unexpectedly dropped on them in their first year. These people were criminals, plain and simple. They would fight their fellow man with deadly force to get what they wanted, as if they themselves were mindless, hateful Grimm, so Ruby and the rest of her friends were now determined and driven to make this mission a success!

 

Ruby covered her mouth and squealed through her fingers, thinking of the altercations to come in two days’ time. How exciting it was going to be, testing their mettle against real people, not just instinct-based Grimm! She hated Grimm as much as the next person, wanting them wiped from the face of Remnant for good, but trying out tactics against a real human being that could potentially be as intelligent as she was held a thrill that could only be matched by her desire to help people.

 

“Ruby.. Would you please settle down? We’re _trying_ to watch the news,” Weiss complained, lounging in one of the recliners in their apartment with coffee in hand and eyes glued to their television. Blake sat in another a couple of feet to the side, scribbling on a sheet of paper with her ears canted towards the news as well. It was a nightly ritual for them to catch up on the changes in the political landscape before they retreated to their individual rooms so Yang could have her own “room” to herself.

 

“If you wanted something to watch I heard there’s a gun show happening soon!” Yang flexed in a macho man pose on her way to the kitchen for her pre-bedtime protein shake, the setting sun lighting her hair ablaze from the open window. She giggled when two baleful stares were leveled her way for her cheesy joke, unphased as she made her way to the blender. Ruby was the only one to laugh at her sister’s humor, earning her the temporary ire of her other two teammates for a moment until her infectious smile spread to them, the both of them rolling their eyes at being caught enjoying themselves and returning to their news show.

 

“Sorry… I just can’t wait for the night after tomorrow!” Ruby explained her previous interruption with another, the topic of her words suspending the exasperation that Weiss had clearly been about to throw her way. “I mean, I’ve been having a lot of fun not being stuck in school anymore but I’m really looking forward to this.”

 

“We know, Ruby. We talked about this the other day. Maybe you could try going to bed early so tomorrow will get here sooner?” Blake quietly suggested, chuckling at Ruby’s emphatic shake of her head. 

“You really think I can sleep? I just wish we could skip past tomorrow and just get to kicking some criminal butts!”

 

“Hell yeah, Rubes! That’s the spirit!” Yang crowed on her way to her fold-out bed, high-fiving her little sister with a grin and stretching out luxuriously, pointedly ignoring the dull politics on the screen that were so captivating to Blake and Weiss. Ruby couldn’t really blame the two for obviously not wanting to tackle the discussion much since she kept bringing it up but it was hard to dispel her anticipation in favor of anything else.

 

“Right. Because time travel would be so convenient,” Weiss said patronizingly, shaking her head with a smile small when Ruby stuck her tongue out at her. “In the meanwhile, the world still moves on so that’s why we’re trying to watch the news. As always. So shhh.” One slender finger came up to pale lips to shush the noisy sister’s, earning her another pout but still granting her the quiet she asked for. It wasn’t like this was any different from their usual nights but it was just the unusual thing to look forward to that was changing Ruby’s normally patient attitude. Sometimes she even watched along, trying to learn more about the world of politics despite it being so boring.

 

While she settled more comfortably into her chair to do just that she noticed Weiss perking up at the appearance of a new face on the screen, one that looked vaguely familiar when she glanced over, though she was certain she didn’t really know who it was. While there weren’t any particularly famous Faunus in the politics in Vale she was fairly certain this tiger woman wasn’t from around here, not with her dark skin and wild hair.

 

“Blake? Isn’t that Sienna Khan?”

 

“What?!”

 

Weiss’ quiet question drew a sharp reply from the normally calm and collected ninja of the group, her notebook completely forgotten as her gaze flicked to the tiger Faunus walking up to the stage of the conference she and Blake had been watching. Her bearing was proud and regal as she stepped up to the stage, wild tattoos on her arms fully exposed except for the drape across her shoulders and her feline ears glittering under the bright lights of flashing cameras with their numerous piercings. As much as her image directly contrasted with the modern and proper dress of the politicians around her no one seemed to dare attempt at removing such a fierce individual.

 

“I didn’t think she’d be joining in on this… She really shouldn’t be anywhere near here considering what she came out with the last time she was in the public eye. Didn’t you say that she just recently denounced the terrorist faction of the White Fang, Blake?”

 

“Yeah… Six months ago. They arrested her because she was technically responsible for its start but she dropped off after that. We never heard if she was charged with anything or not… She isn’t in handcuffs though… I can’t think of any reason for her to be here, honestly, after that long hiding away. This is a press conference for Vale’s ruling council to calm the fears around the terrorist attacks that happened in Vacuo last month… Showing up here seems counter-intuitive...”

 

Ruby felt incredibly confused, shooting her blonde sister a baffled look and receiving one in return that at least made her feel better by letting her know she wasn’t the only one that was lost. A look at the screen said that most of the people actually present at the event were confused as well, whispering amongst themselves and shooting the woman looks ranging from hopeful consideration to fear and disgust. Weiss and Blake were continuing to talk about the logistics of why the infamous civil rights activist might be making an appearance, coming up blank until the woman herself had placed herself in front of the main podium that the election candidates had been speaking from, simply watching the elderly councilman who had taken the floor previously with unblinking eyes until he was sufficiently cowed and stepped down.

 

An aide of some sort was seen hurriedly following in the wake of Sienna’s passage, furtively coming up behind the council members and explaining something with a frantic look in their eyes. The group of older men and women seemed to garner something quite valuable from the explanation, whatever it was, looking to the woman before them expectantly and awaiting the return of quiet in the room they occupied just as she was, though a couple of them appeared to be far more uncomfortable than their fellow politicians.

 

There was already quiet in the apartment at least, even Ruby remaining silent while she watched. The implications of the former leader of the White Fang appearing in front of a council of leaders even struck a chord with her, leaving her somewhat speechless.

 

“People of Vale. I am Sienna Khan. Former head of the White Fang, to those of you who do not recognize me.” The faint derision in Sienna’s voice as she began to speak in an imperious tone was hard to associate with anything in particular. In her last public appearance she had made plain her distaste in dealing with human politics concerning her fellow Faunus but in addition to that she had an air of detached professionalism about her at all times, as if she were attempting to distance herself from those that might try to harm her, Faunus and human alike. Factors like these gave an immediate impression of someone too accustomed to the problems that came with being in a position of leadership and power. While not filled with contempt for man’s violent ways of addressing problems as she had been before she had clearly stated in her last speech those few months ago that she was still not above answering harsh treatment of her people with powerful litigation and even returned violence. In self-defense of course.

 

Smooth, practiced tones spilled over the gathered crowd of reporters and legal personnel, filling the ears of viewers across the nation with words laced with the inherent defensiveness of someone subjected to years of harsh scrutiny. Yet her eyes shone with compassion, a shocking addition in comparison to the cascade of defensive rhetoric from her previous public speech. “I am here today on this most unfortunate occasion to first offer my condolences to the families of those affected by the senseless atrocities committed by my former brethren. I can only apologize in the hopes that my words may reach those who consider the actions of these few to represent the feelings of the many. And perhaps these words may fall on deaf ears due to my reputation. Those who know my name already are aware that I was once the propagator of the very mindset fueling the radicals who inflicted this vengeful attack in southern Vacuo. This is a fact that I cannot take back. I, however, unlike those that continue to bear the name of the White Fang, have come to recognize that these attempts to right the injustices inflicted upon the Faunus through violence have been misguided. Not out of place, as there is always a place for self defense when unjustly attacked, but certainly unwarranted in cases like these where innocents are harmed and killed for a grudge.”

 

Tension hung in the air around all who could hear Sienna’s words, some of it laced with righteous indignation while the rest held a somber reverence for the woman’s apology. Some heard no apology at all, hearing instead how she shifted blame away from herself and considering her the direct cause for the deaths of over a hundred people in Vacuo. Others sympathized with the related plight of the Faunus; recognizing that while this was an occasion for mourning, it was also a time to remember that simply because Faunus had perpetrated this travesty in the name of their kind that didn’t mean that all of them believed it to be a correct course of action. A pregnant pause held the tongues of any who wished to retort, mesmerizing golden eyes piercing through all who stood in their presence and even past the cameras that recorded them to capture the attentions of those watching from miles away.

 

Ruby had the fleeting thought that she wanted to be capable of inspiring such a visceral reaction in the hearts of others one day despite the ill-suited nature of that desire compared to the topic at hand. There was an inherent charisma to this individual that inspired something close to envy in her innocent heart, explaining how the solemn speaker had once led thousands to rebel against those that so heartlessly oppressed them. And now she was trying to direct that rebellion in a more peaceful fashion by directly dealing with the problems on the other side herself rather than pushing back with force alone. More heartfelt words brought Ruby’s attention away from her admiration, tugging her by the ears to listen once again.

 

“Adam Taurus, the man who made an attempt on my own life in order to try and galvanize the Faunus of the world against humankind with hatred and a desire for vengeance, is the one deserving of punishment for the crimes he has ordered committed.” Mutterings of shock passed through those gathered before Sienna as she lifted her dark shirt to bare an ugly stab wound just below her ribs, angrily puckered skin a testament to the hateful attack she had weathered. The sudden turn from apology to pointed blame seemed to offend a few who were gathered before her but their protests were readily silenced by those near them. “I tell you this, not to have all those misguided souls who follow him subjected to the same punishment as him but to remind those who will be seeking just retribution that most of those people crave peace as much as they do. Adam Taurus holds no desire for a resolution beyond bloodshed in his own cruel heart but has tried to pervert their hopes by letting them believe that those dreams can come true through his violent methods. These lost people yearn for the same mutual respect and prosperous resolution that we should all strive for. From knowing all this I only hope that we can all move forward to a future of peaceful cooperation between mankind and Faunus, as we are all living in this one world we have called Remnant. I apologize for interrupting this conference and will take my leave until such a time that I can more thoroughly answer the questions some undoubtedly have for me. Farewell. I hope we may reach peace together.”

 

As abruptly as the tiger Faunus had appeared she seemed willing to disappear just as quickly; half the crowd of reporters in the session rose to their feet as one to bombard her with questions as she walked back behind the stage from whence she came while the other sat dumbstruck by the suddenness of her departure. Those who did rise had no luck in pinning her down with their words as she had with her own, her strides long and confidently taking her beyond the curtains past the barricade holding them back from the politicians’ speaking area. The clamor of voices filling the speakers of Team RWBY’s television was quite disorienting now, prompting Weiss to mute it and put her face in her hands with a long sigh, letting the closed captions of the council members play across the screen while they endeavored to regain control of the people who were no longer interested in their presence. Sienna Khan had quite effectively stolen their spotlight, leaving disarray and questioning thoughts in her wake.

 

“That was… sure something,” Ruby said softly, looking around at the others until her gaze settled on Blake, eyeing the rigid attention the woman’s feline ears still held. Her gaze flicked to Weiss too, wondering how many hundreds of things were flying through her brain right now. Ruby didn’t even have something close to the scope of knowledge on politics that Weiss did and her own mind was racing after having that speech unloaded on her.

 

“Yeah… It sure was, sis..” Yang said soberly, shifting around as if she were uncomfortable with her usual lack of modesty. Ruby had to admit that a low-cut, belly-baring t-shirt with the phrase “Ready to ride the DRAGON??” emblazoned across the front of it and neon green panties didn’t fit the serious mood inflicted upon them.

 

“I must admit that I’m rather surprised to hear all that from her,” Weiss began slowly, clearly trying to choose her words carefully. While she was always careful with her words when she could be Ruby noticed that she took great care in showing their Faunus teammate that she was sympathetic to the plight of her people. “I had initially thought that she had been the one leading the White Fang down that path… I hadn’t imagined there being two sides to the group that were so different. And I thought that her pride would never let her actually speak to humans without an attack…”

 

“Because she’s finally figured out that negotiating and fighting on the same level as everyone else is the best way to earn trust…” Blake offered in a quiet tone, her extra set of ears curling into her skull anxiously, fingers gripping her notebook tightly as she processed through all she had heard just as the others were doing. It made sense that this would take longer for her though, Ruby surmised. Problems with the White Fang had always struck a more powerful chord with Blake since their movement was very much tied to her own place in the world. Such was the issue with being caught up in a civil rights movement that had taken a turn for the worse when violence was introduced to the field of a proverbial war.

 

“I think she’s amazing for standing up in front of everyone like that!” Ruby stood abruptly, her gaze falling on each of her friends and ending with Blake, holding that amber gaze with fiery silver eyes. “I don’t really know her and I know from what she said that she hasn’t always been the best person, but she’s trying to make things better in a great way! She can’t fight Grimm or criminals like we can to just get her problems out of the way but she’s fighting a big fight in a way that’s really admirable,” she asserted, doing her best to bring the mood in their group up before it could get dragged down by their individual worries.

 

Worldwide violence wasn’t an easy subject to tackle, especially since it was such a large issue that even they as Huntresses couldn’t truly affect it with their most powerful skillset without becoming vigilantes. It was even harder knowing that it wasn’t their place to seek out that fight when there were people out there more than willing to bring that confrontation to them. They could defend from an incursion and they could fight when called on but to strike first would make them no better than those they faced. Symbols standing for the change needed to truly bring an end to that kind of conflict were even harder to consider since there was truly no guarantee of a resolution even with their presence. But Ruby saw that symbol as a chance to soothe her friends’ suddenly troubled minds as best as she could, reminding them to trust in their fellow people to do what was right in their place.

 

“She’s doing her best with what she can… Just like we are. Right?” Ruby could see the smiles working their way free with her words, hopping up from her chair and first jumping into Blake’s lap to give her a great big hug, finally eliciting a soft laugh from the young woman.

 

“I guess she is… I still wonder if I shouldn’t be doing more even while she’s doing so much… I never met her myself before but I know my father trusted her a lot once. He really approved of what she said when she turned her back on what the White Fang became...” Blake pressed back against Ruby’s hug with a light sigh, ears perking up as Weiss picked up before their leader could.

 

“I think you’re doing fantastic, Blake… Putting yourself into the world and showing people on a daily basis that the good and caring Faunus exist makes a lot of difference. Even if it’s not on a stage like hers where she’s fighting that hateful Adam. You’re doing just as much to tarnish his reputation as she is by being an amazing person,” Weiss’ voice was quiet yet filled to the brim with a confidence in her book-loving friend that had amber orbs struggling to maintain eye contact without a blush.

 

“Yeah! The days you go out without your bow on show people that Faunus are amazing as friends as much as other people are,” Ruby reassured, hugging Blake a little tighter as Yang wrapped her own long arms around both of them, crushing them into a big hug that smelled of heat and sunshine.

 

“Totally put my vote in for Blake as best kitty cat this year and every year too, no matter how cool that lady on the tv was,” the blonde stated with a note of pride in her voice, the entire group laughing without a single groan of disappointment at the ridiculous joke.

 

Ruby loved how they could all work to turn things around, working with Yang to start steering their conversation to more normal territory once more and nudging everyone slowly towards bed with time. For all that she hadn’t been tired earlier the sobering mood from that short twenty minutes of listening to Sienna Khan had left her with a more reasonable outlook on the next couple of days. Two more nights and they had their own battle to face, fighting not just for the safety of the Faunus but for the safety of all the people in the City of Vale; they still had no idea what exactly it was that was causing this conflict but coming into it tired and jittery from anxiety about what might be wouldn’t help them. Plenty of rest and a more positive outlook on their efforts thanks to the input from an unrelated problem would guide them to victory, of that Ruby was certain. They couldn’t go into things questioning everything they thought they knew about the effect they could have on the world. Sureness of purpose was the most important thing, she reasoned with a determined glint in her eyes when putting herself to bed, silver eyes gleaming with her optimistic smile.

* * *

 

“Okay, this is officially the freakiest thing ever, Miltia… _Look at this!_ My hand goes right through everything!”

 

Miltia, a mere thirty-six hours before she and her sister would be needed for Junior’s mysterious deal, was suddenly questioning everything she thought she knew about their place in the world. When they had wrested information about the deal from an unwilling Junior last week she had thought that knowledge would make her rest easier in regards to her concerns about their ability to fight fully-trained Huntresses. They had fared decently against Yang Xiao Long once but these circumstances had gotten so much stranger that she was certain some part of someone’s plan was going to go awry. It made her care much less about the grudge itself and more about what they might need to do if something bigger than a revenge match reared its ugly head from the urban detritus that was the mob.

 

Melanie, as always, had a one-track mind for their planned altercation in the encounter, reassuring her elder twin by way of dragging her to their personal gym on the second floor of their condominium. While neither of them were professional weight-lifters or dedicated fitness nuts by any stretch of the imagination nor were they entirely negligent of the exercise their bodies certainly needed to maintain a lifestyle partially centered around combat, regardless of the fact that it was nowhere near as intensive as the life of a Hunter.

 

Round and round the twins had gone, bout after bout honing their reflexes in preparation over the course of the past week and, unbeknownst to them, pushing their Auras in new ways. With each kick thrown there was less air resistance holding it back. With punch blocked the blow struck something less than what it struck previously. They were hardly well-informed when it came to the strange forces at work when they fought people, ones that Hunters of Grimm lived and breathed each and every day, but they at least recognized that some sort of force related to their willpower shielded them from the more dangerous blows that they might take. They failed to realize, however, how their emotions might affect that power as well. Single-minded focus on a new goal after such a fresh failure, even if that focus was different for each respective twin, heralded an unexpected change in their bodies. A Semblance.

 

“Yes, I see that Melanie… I’ve been seeing it for the past three days. Mine is doing it too. Look though, focus and you can still touch things, just like we’ve been practicing.”

 

“Yeah, like, I know that but… Miltia! I can’t stop thinking how cool this is!” Melanie all but squealed at her sister, bouncing around in her white hot pants and tank top with the excitement of someone that had discovered something fresh and fantastically revolutionary. Miltia couldn’t help but smile a little, thinking of all the things they two of them had already been able to figure out how to do with this strange, ironically identical power that they now shared. Striking things through one another’s bodies, affecting the change at just the right moment that dodging an attack became a non-issue, and even phasing their entire bodies through solid walls.

 

Neither of them knew what a Semblance was nor how rare a phenomenon it was for the both of them to possess the same one. What _was_ known however was that something in their training regimen, be it the intensity or the thoughts that roamed through their minds while the performed it, had sparked an ability that allowed their bodies to become intangible at their whim. To a point it drained their strength yet they found the more they exercised their power the stronger and more finely-tuned it became, just like training any physical muscle to handle greater stress.

 

“There are definitely a lot of applications for this…” Miltia agreed with a nod, smiling despite herself at Melanie’s excitement and stretching her arms out above her head while Melanie tested her kicks at a large sandbag, allowing her legs to phase through it every third or fourth strike as she saw fit. It was a fascinating spectacle for Miltia to watch, even after several days of seeing it in action. Even though she had watched her twin perform moves like this in countless situations it was a fresh and new experience to see how she could feint and strike so unexpectedly when it was impossible to tell which attack would truly connect. Briefly mesmerized, Miltia stood and stared for a time, not considering much aside from appraising her sister’s techniques.

 

_I like our chances a lot better now. Even if we end up in over our heads then we can get away with this. We just need to make sure we don’t spend all our energy on the fight so we can fall back on this._

 

 _“_ Miltia? You okay?” Melanie asked, her voice ringing out next to her sister’s ear quite suddenly and making her jump a little. When had she stopped practicing and started standing next to her? Miltia belatedly registered that she must have started spacing off, not noticing when the other woman came over despite the fact that her eyes had never left her form. Maybe she was just tired? Her face did feel a little warm and she usually turned into a furnace when tired or sleeping.

 

“Of course. I think we should get some sleep is all. It’s getting late and we need to be ready for tomorrow night,” Miltia replied with a small smile, eyes lingering on the sweat making Melanie’s shirt cling to her chest. “You can have first shower. You’re clearly enjoying yourself a little more than I am,” she teased, chuckling when she was lightly smacked on the shoulder for her ridiculousness.

 

“Whatever, Miltia. You’re as sweaty as me. Come on. We’ll get in together today.” An arm was slung over her shoulders at that, making her smile a little wider and lean into the friendly contact contentedly. While they’d had some ups and downs in their thoughts the past week, she was feeling a lot better now that they had stumbled upon this hidden treasure in their abilities. On top of that, doubting the two of them as a unit after spending so much time reaffirming everything they knew was strong in the other and in their sisterly bond? Impossible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a lot longer than the others.... mainly on account of the fact that my meds needed a change since I've been having hyper-surrealistic dreams that were keeping me from getting good sleep. Work has been an on/off disaster as well. But hey! New chapter! Enjoy :)
> 
> Keep in mind that Melanie and Miltia, considering they're characters that have appeared in the show properly literally two times, have plenty of open space to grow in, including their potential Semblances :D

**Author's Note:**

> Feel like its a fair disclaimer to make that this is my first fic that I'm going to the trouble of both writing and posting online. Constructive criticism is welcome but may be assimilated slowly as I work my way through thisnnew process. There are so many great fic writers out there that I can't help but try to emulate some of them and bring some of my own thoughts to the playing field. Hope you enjoy :)


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